Elemental Sky
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: When Nozomi Sawada finds an old picture in the attic, she has no idea that it would lead to quite the adventure. Nor could she have expected to find herself dealing with demons of all things, courtesy of her cousin. The fate of the Elemental Nations is held in the hands of a civilian girl who has no idea what she's doing, just that it's up to her to make things right.
1. Chapter 1

When she first found the old photos, she had no idea the impact they would have on not just her own life, but the lives of countless others as well.

Let us start at the beginning, shall we?

There were two sisters that were born in a village made up of a special sort of fighter. They called themselves shinobi. This village was called Sunagakure, or the Village Hidden in the Sand.

One sister would go on to marry the future Kazekage, and give birth to three children. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. She would die due to the complications of her youngest son's birth, and because of the monster they would force him to carry.

The other sister would leave the village entirely to pursue the world outside the Elemental nations, and eventually settle in a country called Japan. There, she would meet a man and give birth to a single daughter, Nozomi.

For ten long years, Nozomi had no idea of her cousins, much less the fact her mother had come from a land outside Japan.

Shortly before her eleventh summer, that would change. And with it, the fate of many.

* * *

 _Nozomi POV_

When Nozomi found the photos, she had been mildly interested. When she found the letters though, a stirring of hope filled her.

It was only when she figured out where the letters were sent and how to get there that an idea began to form.

"Do you have everything you want to take with you, sweetie?" asked Nana.

"I think so, Mama," said Nozomi.

"Remember what I told you about my old village, right?"

"Don't talk to anyone with a scratched out headband, don't leave the village itself, and be sure to only use ryo while I'm there because the yen has to be converted at the banks first," repeated Nozomi. "Also, I have to deliver the letter first to the leader to prove who I am."

Nana beamed at her.

"I'm so proud of you! I hope you enjoy your visit to my old home," said Nana.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Mama?"

"That's sweet of you dear, but I think it would be good for you to have a little adventure of your own. Normally I would hesitate sending you off to another country, but the hidden villages are fairly safe for civilians to visit on their own. Besides, it's less than a day's trip between the veil."

"Mama, what's the veil?"

"The Veil is a massive illusion that keeps the Elemental countries more or less a secret. While normal people can pass through it, it keeps the world governments from becoming too foolish when it comes to the inhabitants. Sunagakure is very close to the borders of Kyoto, less than a day's travel. Of course there are a few areas which does regular trade within the veil."

Fortunately there was a boat willing to travel from Namimori to Suna, even if it would take an extra day to get there.

Nozomi shouldered her bag, and took the ticket her mother had purchased for her. She had a special visa to enter the village, one that her aunt had sent her mother a long time ago. She also had the bank card that belonged to her mother's old accounts, one that was occasionally added to whenever her mother sent a letter to her old home.

This was her first time outside Namimori. She was almost excited, and at the same time terrified.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped onto the boat.

* * *

 _In Sunagakure_

The Kazekage was more than mildly terrifying. If anything he actually doubted her claim until she produced a photo that had previously been lost. Seeing as how there was only _one_ other copy, it was hard to dismiss her tale.

Particularly since he knew perfectly well he had a sister-in-law who had left the village over a decade ago. It didn't hurt that the girl looked quite a bit like her mother.

"You will have the same general access as any other civilian in the village. If we catch you in the restricted areas, you will be arrested," he said flatly. "Temari and Kankuro just got off a mission and will be restricted to the village for the next week. Seek them out at your leisure."

It wouldn't be later that Nozomi realized he made no mention of Gaara.

Suna was hot, dry and very confusing. As for Temari and Kankuro, they seemed to stick to a restricted training ground, which meant Nozomi would have to wait in order to meet them properly. Gaara, on the other hand, seemed to be taboo among everyone. Even mentioning him got her dark looks and hushed whispers.

She was baffled as to _why_.

Nozomi was almost fed up with the attitude. It was ridiculous! It wasn't like Gaara was as terrifying as Hibari-sempai, right?

Spotting a red head with a gourd and a headband tied to the sash, she tried one last time. If he gave her the same cryptic answers about her cousins, she was just going to give up and hope one of the shinobi passed along that she wanted to meet with them.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find Gaara, Kankuro or Temari?" she asked patiently.

The red head with almost dull looking green eyes looked at her oddly.

"What do you want with Gaara?" he asked. There was a strange tone in his voice and a sense of impending violence.

"I want to meet my cousin, but every time I try to ask where I can find them I just get weird looks and hushed whispers, especially if I mention him. And from what I was told, the other two are in a restricted training ground which means I can't look for them directly," she said irritably.

Dead silence.

"I am Gaara."

Nozomi blinked, before she beamed at him. There was a slightly startled look at the 'sunshine and sparkles' that came off her smile.

"Hello Gaara. I'm your cousin Nozomi through your mother. Mama was rather happy that I wanted to see her old village," she said brightly.

"You... wanted to meet me?" he said confused.

"Why wouldn't I want to meet you? We are family, after all," said Nozomi, tilting her head.

Gaara stared at her, as if she was some alien life form.

Nozomi then took notice of the hushed whispers around them. They were fearful, disbelieving and far more sinister than any she heard about Hibari-sempai.

As sensing her confusion, she then saw an odd gold glint slowly pouring out of the gourd on his back. It took her a moment to realize what it was.

"Is that...sand? How is it doing that? Floating about I mean?" she asked with open curiosity.

Gaara blinked.

"I control it," he said. More of it poured out, and to her utter fascination it formed different shapes.

"That's amazing! How are you doing that?" she said, openly impressed and with her full attention on what he was doing, even if everyone around her shirked back in fear.

Gaara didn't know what to think of his cousin. This was the first time anyone had shown a positive reaction to his ability to use sand, let alone talked to him this civilly without any hint of fear.

He almost jerked back when Nozomi reached out and actually _touched_ the sand voluntarily, without showing disgust.

"This feels a bit different from the sand I've seen so far. What's it made out of?" she asked with open curiosity.

"Sand and blood," he said, to see how she would react.

There wasn't much disgust in her expression, but there was open confusion.

"But it's not that red. And I don't smell any copper or anything. And wouldn't blood make it stick together?" she asked baffled.

Gaara blinked.

"How do you know so much about the consistency of blood?" asked Gaara.

"It's basic knowledge about blood. I know it tends to get tacky when it starts to dry until it turns brown," said Nozomi.

In reality she had so much trouble with bullying and having to learn how to bandage herself up that she learned a few things about how it worked. But she wasn't about to say as much to her cousin.

Gaara had a strange feeling in his chest, one he didn't really recognize.

"Gaara!"

Turning, he found his 'siblings' practically running to him looking openly alarmed and worried, along with his 'sensei'.

Nozomi turned to face them without an ounce of fear towards the fact she was well within his kill range if he used his sand. Almost as if she didn't regard him as a threat to begin with.

"Are you Temari and Kankuro? I've been looking all over the village for you, but all the shinobi would tell me was that you were in a training ground and not to be disturbed."

Temari had to blink at the sunshine and sparkles that came off Nozomi's smile. She had a rather strained one of her own...mostly because of the girl's close proximity towards Gaara.

She also didn't mention the fact that the only reason they rushed here was because she heard a girl fitting their cousin's description was talking to Gaara and was well within his range of death.

Nozomi turned to Gaara.

Dinner was a heavily tense affair, mainly because Nozomi wanted to talk a bit more with Gaara. The redhead seemed _very_ confused by this, which made Temari's heart hurt. She was all too aware how rare it was for anyone to interact with Gaara as easily as Nozomi did.

Nozomi was a civilian, almost painfully so for the shinobi. And yet for some bizarre reason she had more balls than most of the shinobi forces.

Temari could state that with absolute honesty, because Nozomi showed zero fear around Gaara, even when he was in a murderous mood.

Nozomi walked up to Gaara, who's eyes glinted with death and madness. His sand rose in anticipation of the future bloodshed.

She touched his arm, and frowned.

"Why does your arm feel like sandpaper?"

Gaara blinked, his bloodlust temporary averted by his confusion... mostly because she was touching him.

"It's my sand armor."

"Wait... you have an undetectable armor?" she said with open interest. "How do you create something like that?"

Gaara's attention was now more focused on her, rather than the poor fool who caught his deadly gaze.

"I...don't know?" he said confused.

Nozomi pouted.

"I'd love to have sand armor like that...so would a lot of other people in Namimori, come to think of it. It would certainly frustrate Hibari-sempai I would bet."

Temari latched onto that name, trying to stave off the oncoming headache.

"Who's Hibari?"

"He's the demon prefect of Namimori. He likes to fight people a lot, but he never goes after anyone he knows are weaker than him," said Nozomi, matter of fact. "Considering your village is full of fighters, he'd probably love it here and challenge all the top ranking ones in a heartbeat if he ever visited. Not even the yakuza dare to step out of line because he'd bite them to death."

Temari stared at her.

"You have demons outside the veil?"

"It's more of a nickname. Though he certainly fights like one. Fortunately the worst I've had to suffer was a few bruises for being late to school," said Nozomi.

It took Temari a few moments to register the fact Gaara had gone from a murderous state to a positively _relaxed_ one. As in he wasn't about to go on another rampage filled with casualties and maiming, not around Nozomi at least.

He seemed more interested in hearing about life outside the veil, a fact Temari latched onto like a lifeline.

Or perhaps he had developed an interest in their cousin.

So Temari changed the subject, trying to find out more about this 'Namimori' where Nozomi and their aunt lived. If only to keep Gaara diverted from killing anyone who could potentially irritate him.

She had no idea of the potential heart attack waiting to happen later that night.

* * *

 _A few hours later..._

Nozomi had dismissed it at first, but now that she actually looking at him she was puzzled about something.

"Aren't you sleepy? Bags under the eyes like that can't be normal."

"I can't sleep."

Nozomi winced with sympathy.

"Insomnia?"

"More like the guards won't let me sleep," clarified Gaara.

"Why?"

Gaara paused, wondering if he should share this with her. He didn't want her to run away like the rest.

"I've learned to adjust to it," he said finally. He didn't want her to know about Shukaku. Not yet anyway.

Nozomi carefully got onto the roof, and sat down next to Gaara. Strangely, he barely registered the fact she was inside his personal space. It felt rather comforting.

She looked up at the night sky, which was so much clearer without the exhaust fumes and other annoyances that tended to muck up the skyline.

"Do you know any of the stars?" she asked, curious.

Gaara looked up. He had always observed the night sky, but outside of being able to navigate by them he didn't really know much about them.

He pointed out a constellation.

"Following that one would lead to Earth country," he said finally.

Nozomi smiled at him, and he relaxed.

"What about that one?" she asked, pointing to a different set of stars.

"Following those for five nights without stopping and at a shinobi's pace would lead you to Lightning country," he said.

Nozomi pointed out a new one.

"Four days travel to the Land of Fire, and to Konohagakure," he replied.

It was about that time he realized he was leaning against her, and it felt very nice. Not in a romantic sense, but more of a familiar way. Like the old bear he had lost so long ago. It felt like home, in a way he never thought it could.

Besides, he was well aware that first cousins shouldn't marry. The chances of genetic defects would skyrocket if they did, because the bloodlines were too close.

Nozomi's voice was soothing, almost distracting in a way. He didn't even realize when he feel asleep, just that he felt safe in a way that was almost long forgotten.

 _Two roofs away_

When the girl went onto the roof, they had ignored it. Nozomi Sawada had proven to be a strange creature capable of getting past Gaara's defenses and somehow calming him from going on a snit again.

They heard the snore, and dismissed it for a few seconds thinking she had fallen asleep next to the demon brat.

That dismissal turned into alarm and shock when they realized it was _Gaara_ snoring on Nozomi's lap...and Shukaku was nowhere to be seen.

Gaara was almost sound asleep, and Shukaku wasn't out.

"What the fuck?!" said Lizard in shocked disbelief.

"Someone go report this to the Kazekage, _now,_ " said Wolf.

The third guard bolted, shaken by the fact Gaara was currently sleeping.

He would rather face the Kazekage's ire about letting _that_ happen than be anywhere near the area when the demon finally made an appearance!

To say the Kazekage was both pissed (that Gaara had been allowed to fall asleep in the first place) and not believing a word that the messenger had said (because Shukaku wasn't out if that was the case) was an understatement.

Except when he got there, he saw the truth for himself.

Gaara was sleeping _peacefully_ on an amused Nozomi's lap and there wasn't a single sign of the demon being out. A guard threw a senbon in the general vicinity of the two, and while Nozomi barely registered it, Gaara's defense reacted.

Though it was a bit more sluggish than normal. Almost lazy in fact.

The Kazekage looked to his men, baffled.

"HOW?"

"We don't know sir. She's able to get past his defenses and even calm the brat down without any trouble at all. We can't explain it."

He knew it wasn't anything to do with Nana. If that were the case then there was a high chance her sister would have had it, or their children. So it had to do with the man Nana had married. Perhaps he had a hidden kekkei genkai, one more effective than the Sharingan?

On the other roof, Gaara slept on, mostly oblivious to his father's scheming while Nozomi stroked his hair. It was ridiculously fluffy.


	2. Chapter 2

Nozomi was openly disappointed she had to return, mostly because her summer break was over.

So were Temari, Kankuro and Gaara, for slightly different reasons. Namely the fact this was the first time they were able to interact with their younger brother, and for Gaara it was the first time anyone had been willing to interact with him in a positive way at all since his uncle died.

The one thing Temari and Kankuro simply couldn't get over was the fact they had _both_ seen Gaara sleeping like a rock while cuddled against their tiny fluffball of a cousin...and Shukaku stayed quiet. They never thought they'd ever see Gaara sleeping normally without bloodshed occurring.

"It's too bad you couldn't stay," said Temari honestly.

"I know, but if I tried odds are Hibari would find out where I went and come hunt me down. He's very big on attending school and maintaining the peace of Namimori. I'm sure Mama would be happy if you visited though."

"We did get you something," said Kankuro.

He liked Nozomi. While she was a civilian she didn't balk at the fact they had killed before or the fact they would do so again. She was pretty cool about the whole shinobi thing...and she didn't call his war paint make-up or mock his puppets.

He still couldn't get over the fact that out of the three of them, she had bonded to Gaara the most.

Temari _lightly_ nudged Gaara, who timidly held out a necklace. It was a desert rabbit made of special chakra-crystal, one that could retain the chakra of whomever wore it for a long enough period of time. It was fairly pricy, but they had high hopes it would encourage Nozomi to visit again...and very soon.

Temari wasn't the least bit shocked that her father paid for it himself, in the hopes that the 'extra' bits would pick up on whatever it was Nozomi was doing to keep Gaara calm or allowed him to sleep without setting the demon loose.

"You will write me, won't you?" asked Nozomi, eyes wide and hopeful.

Temari almost flinched at it. How was she supposed to say no to _that_? It was almost like a genjutsu!

"Of course we will," said Temari at last.

Besides, it would be nice to have another girl to talk to.

Nozomi very reluctantly went home, but at least she had someone to talk to now.

Even if she did yelp loudly enough for the neighbors to hear the first time one of the messenger hawks showed up, bearing letters. If it wasn't for the Suna hourglass embroidered into the sash, she wouldn't have known it was from her cousins!

* * *

Summer came again, and the second the last class ended Nozomi was off like a shot out the doors and straight home. Her mama smiled at her indulgently, and handed her the tickets. The boatmen that took her to Suna knew her by name at this point, and she was learning a lot of fun things about how to sail on open ocean. She was still clumsy, but for some strange reason it wasn't as bad as it used to be.

"Have fun!" Nana called out with a smile on her face.

"I will mama! I'll tell you everything when I get home!"

Nozomi was going to spend roughly two months in Suna, rather than the two weeks her first visit. Her cousins were equally happy, though Temari and Kankuro still wouldn't explain why they were beyond relieved when Nozomi visited.

She even brought presents this time!

"Ahoy, little hope!" said the captain.

"Ahoy, sir!" she called back. "Permission to come aboard?"

"Permission granted. Want to help me chart our course?" he said with an indulgent smile on his face.

Nozomi was up there in a heartbeat. She loved learning new things.

When the shores of the Suna outpost came into view, Nozomi smiled brightly. She could already see the welcoming party waiting for her in the silent watcher of Gaara.

She easily jumped from the boat to the shore, hugging him tightly.

"Hi, Gaara-nii!" she said happily.

"Welcome back, imouto," said Gaara.

"Where are Temari and Kankuro?"

"Temari is preparing the spare room, and Kankuro is currently in his workshop fixing up one of his special puppets for the trip."

"Trip?" said Nozomi.

"We have been selected to enter the Chunin exams in Konoha. Father has already acquired a special pass so that you can come with us," said Gaara.

Gaara wasn't entirely happy about this, for a few reasons. Namely the fact that the only reason Nozomi was even allowed to go was because the Kazekage wanted her to keep Gaara calm...right up until the invasion. They still hadn't figured out what exactly Nozomi was doing to keep the One-Tail calm, so odds were they would at least try to keep her alive.

If only so they could find out what it was, and exploit it with the next host.

For the most part, their reunion went about as expected. Temari stole as much time as she could with Nozomi, generally to go shopping for girl stuff since she couldn't exactly do it with her brothers.

Kankuro could claim it was war paint all he wanted...she had still caught him stealing her make up from time to time when he was low. And none of the other kunoichi wanted to spend much time with her because of Gaara.

Temari liked having a little sister around, especially one who wasn't afraid of her, Gaara or her position as the Kazekage's daughter. Someone who only saw Temari and nothing else. And it didn't hurt that Nozomi had a good eye for color coordination, that she abused shamelessly in order to get the best deals on new outfits that were both functional, practical and made her look damn good while wearing it.

On an unrelated note, they accidentally found Nozomi was a natural chakra sensor on her third visit when she discovered the location of a pervert near the one hot spring within easy reach of Suna, almost completely monopolized by the shinobi. The kunoichi got the smaller one, but there were heavy privacy seals all over it.

Because of who she was related to, Nozomi was one of the rare _civilians_ who was even allowed in.

Nozomi, sensing something wrong immediately pointed out an area in the fence...only for the older kunoichi to bust a notorious pervert with long white hair on a toad looking very surprised at how fast the civilian had caught him peeping.

The beat down from the kunoichi was so impressive that Nozomi asked Temari for lessons on taijutsu after.

Needless to say her bullies learned very fast to finally leave her alone after she nailed them in the balls in a way that left them in the hospital for a week. Didn't stop the girls, but Temari had high hopes of turning Nozomi into a smooth-talking, catty bitch when pissed off in order to render the other girls into tears with a few well placed remarks.

Nothing she could do for her grades though.

Nozomi eyed the boys, before a mischievous look came upon her face.

"Temari-nee, I think we need to do some work on their wardrobe next. Can you imagine how much better they would look if we got rid of their old and tattered outfits?"

Temari eyed her brothers with an evil expression on her own face.

"You get Gaara's sizes and I'll find Kankuro, then we'll set fire to the worst of the lot and hid the others," said Temari with a gleam in her eyes. This was too much fun.

Kankuro's scream of horrified dismay could be heard clear across Suna. Nozomi had to fight very, very hard not to laugh while recording it, while Temari waited for her to give a thumbs up before howling.

Gaara...rather liked the new outfit Nozomi had picked out. Then again he didn't particularly care what he wore so long as it fit and was clean.

It wasn't a joke to say that his relationship with his siblings had shifted considerably since Nozomi came into their lives. Now they actually talked to one another, and he sometimes gave Temari headaches when he brought back fresh kill for her to cook.

Oddly enough, Gaara was the only one who knew how to actually cook something that was more than just edible. Mostly because it had become a shared hobby between him and Nozomi, who learned it from her mother and then shared it with him. It was relaxing.

It didn't mean they would eat what he cooked though. The frayed trust between them wasn't nearly at that level yet. On an unrelated note, Gaara had already befriended _most_ of the trained animals in the village, such as the messenger hawks because he shared his kill and a wary sort of agreement had come between them.

One in particular had taken a liking to him. A rather lovely, it fierce and wild, female hawk that was named Tsukiyo because of the time she was born.

* * *

 _On the road..._

Nozomi looked at everything with wide, interested eyes and the shinobi (mainly Temari and Kankuro) indulged her with stories and funny moments of their time in the field. Every so often Baki would add his own tales, to the interest of the teenagers and one pre-teen.

Though considering the minor heart attack Nozomi had that morning, she would start growing into her body soon enough. Fortunately Temari had expected this to happen sooner or later, she just didn't anticipate it being _her_ job to explain puberty and how to deal with a period.

Konoha looked bright on the surface, but something about it made Nozomi's face crinkle with dismay.

"What's wrong?" asked Temari.

"Can't you feel that? There's a rot in this village, one that's been set deep into the hearts of the people in it."

The group paused just out of sight of the gate. Now that Nozomi pointed it out, it was hard to miss the festering rot that seemed to 'settle' in the heart of Konoha. It was of an old, lingering sort that would require something quite drastic to expose the worst of it and allow those who suffered from it to heal. Something as devastating as another attack from an unchained Bijuu, or a massive hit to the village.

The closer they get, the more obvious it seems to them.

At least in Suna, the rot is obvious and clear as day, in the form of Gaara and the threat of a bijuu just barely contained by a faulty seal and crappy parenting.

Nozomi once commented that if Gaara was around the day her so-called father returned...if he was still alive anyway, considering her mother claimed he had gone off to 'become a star'... that she would demand to know why he was never around. Depending on the answer she would turn a blind eye to Gaara's actions towards Iemitsu Sawada. She sometimes wondered if setting the bloodthirsty red head on the man would be considered patricide, then realized with some sorrow that if he did die by her actions then she would feel absolutely nothing after.

His 'claim' to the title of father was on very thin ice, as she could honestly never recall a single instance in her short life of him actually acting as one. He was a stranger to her, after all.

As per usual, she settles on the roof with Gaara who takes the night watch and chats with him about the stars and the old stories that he had looked up just for her. Star gazing is another hobby she had introduced him to, and they have quite a bit of fun inventing stories.

The first week of the Chunin exams was rather boring, but she still has some fun shopping. And exploring, though she does try to figure out what on earth is causing the uneasy feeling in her heart when it comes to the village.

It's when she goes to try out a rather popular ramen stand that she finds the one uncorrupted piece of light in the entire village, decked out almost entirely in orange.

While the color suits him, the clothes are far too unflattering. They remind her painfully of the fact her 'father' was never around and made her mother cry, both from his absence and the cruelty of the neighbors who disparage her mother for being a 'single mother'.

She sat next to him with a bright smile, which made the blond smile back with some confusion.

"Can I have a half-sized miso ramen please?"

She had seen the size of the 'regular' bowls and knew she wouldn't have much luck eating one of the full sized ones.

"Coming right up!" said the nice girl behind the counter.

"I'm Nozomi, what's your name?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage one day, dattebayo!"

Nozomi blinked at the semi-loud introduction before smiling at him brightly. He blinked a few times in confusion, mostly at the sparkles she emitted with that act.

"I believe you. Just don't let the paperwork kill you in the meantime, alright? From what I've seen the worst part of being a kage is dealing with the actions of your subordinates...however... I can tell you're the type to actually care about the lives of your men and have the ability to know when to do the right thing. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, Naruto-kun!" said Nozomi.

Naruto wasn't the only one to stare at her... so did the ramen chef and his daughter. Mostly because she was the first person to openly say they believed in Naruto's dream of being a Hokage and encourage him like that. Without once showing any hatred or disgust for the demon he had inside him.

Naruto finally made up his mind on how to react to that. He smiled at her, brighter than the sun.

"You're nice, nee-san!" he said.

"I'm only twelve!" she said pouting.

"I'm fourteen," said Naruto.

"When's your birthday?" asked Nozomi cheerfully.

"October tenth," said Naruto without thinking.

"How weird! Mine's October fourteenth! We're just a few days apart!" said Nozomi.

Naruto relaxed and openly chatted happily with Nozomi, though they did pause to eat their ramen. He was surprised to hear she was from outside the Elemental Nations, having come to Konoha with her cousins who were taking the chunin exams.

"No way, your cousin is Gaara? He practically crippled Lee!"

"Who?" said Nozomi, already feeling dismay at hearing what her cousin did.

"Gaara did this weird sand thing and practically crushed Lee's arm and leg. It took Lee's teacher to call him off," said Naruto.

Nozomi facepalmed.

"Could you meet me outside the hospital? It seems I have to talk with my cousin about this. He knows how I feel about senseless maiming. This is supposed to be a boring test, not a life or death battle!"

She had open trouble believing Naruto would feel this upset about a total ass being maimed, which was why she was annoyed with her cousin.

* * *

 _Outside the hospital_

Naruto openly gaped at the contrite looking Gaara and annoyed looking Nozomi.

"How?"

"Gaara is my cousin and I am literally the only one in the family currently in the Elemental Nations who isn't the least bit afraid of him or his psycho raccoon," said Nozomi flatly. "Which room is Lee in?"

"I don't know. The nurses won't tell me anything," pouted Naruto.

He had expected as much, but it still stung.

He watched the tiny civilian girl bully the room number out of the staff, and stared.

"Your cousin is scary," he said to Gaara.

"Just be glad she hasn't finished training with Temari yet. I've seen her take grown men down with a well placed kick to the balls twice after a bit of instruction how from the Suna kunoichi," said Gaara blandly.

Upon hearing that, any male within earshot (which was pretty much everyone on the first floor) crossed their legs to protect their manly bits and gave Nozomi wary looks.

Shinobi and civilian man alike.

Gai is there, and is naturally _very_ surprised to see Gaara...even if he was escorted by a somewhat trustworthy genin and a civilian. Nozomi cannot help but stare at his eyebrows, and those on Lee.

She turned to Naruto incredulous.

"You neglected to mention they had _caterpillars_ growing on their faces," she said with utter seriousness, which had Naruto snickering.

"I've been calling them Bushy brows and Bushy-brow-sensei since they day I first met them," he admitted, causing Nozomi to openly giggle.

"Now, don't you have something to say, Gaara-nii?" she said pointedly, tapping her foot.

Gaara grimaced.

"I'm sorry for maiming you during a boring advancement test," he said contritely.

Seeing the disbelieving looks on their faces, Nozomi then turned to a surprised Lee.

"Personally I don't really see what the big deal is about not having working chakra coils. Aren't ninja supposed to be assassins, not someone who throws around flashy jutsu and generally making a nuisance of themselves when it comes to collateral damage? I mean most of the shinobi I see are utterly pathetic at taijutsu which is far more useful than jutsu," she said to Lee.

Gaara had a pained look on his face.

"Nozomi, for the last time those movies you brought are more in line with how things were in the warring states period, not the present villages."

"And I keep telling you all those fancy tricks look more like something out of a sentai series, not a proper fight. Anyone with enough speed could take out an enemy before you finish those ridiculous hand signs," she shot back.

Any doubts Gai had about the civilian went away seeing how they managed to improve Lee's mood. While he was maimed, it was nice to hear a mere civilian call the same jutsu he couldn't use 'too flashy' and all the skills he had worked so hard to earn as 'useful'.

On an unrelated note, Gai finally had an idea of what to train Lee in once he was field worthy again. The idea of turning Lee into a silent killer hadn't occurred to him before.


	3. Chapter 3

Nozomi visited Lee often at the hospital, among others. She found a new friend in Hinata, a girl with rather pretty white eyes and a familiar shy disposition. Ino was nice enough, but she was too nosy and quite cruel with her words.

However it was when she visited the hot springs that she finds both amusement and exasperation.

That damn pervert is there!

Spotting a woman with all the grace of a vicious kunoichi nearby and being avoided by the others, Nozomi made a beeline right for her.

"What do you want brat?" she demanded irate.

"There's a pervert by the fence, roughly around the seventh board next to the tree," she said flatly. "I never caught his name last time, but I do remember that he had long white hair and that all the kunoichi is Suna know him by name enough to give him a spectacular beat down without holding back."

She had her back turned to the hole that was quite likely being hidden by said pervert, so he couldn't read her lips.

Seeing the kunoichi's sudden interest and the violent gleam in her eyes, she asked "Why tell me?"

"Because you remind me of Temari-nee and will quite likely know the best people to alert in order to remind him that it's rude to bother kunoichi who are trying to relax and that he should try harder to hide next time," she replied with a cheerful smile.

The woman stared at her, before laughing.

"I like you girlie. Give me a second, okay?" said the kunoichi with a grin on her face.

Ten minutes later there was a loud squawk from the other side of the fence, followed by the sound of the women all crying "PERVERT!"

The second that word was heard, every woman covered up until the sounds of a particularly enthusiastic ass-kicking was over with, followed by the sound of something heavy being thrown out rather bodily.

The kunoichi patted her on the head.

"Good job, little rabbit. Jiraiya-sama wasn't expecting to be busted so fast. How did you know he was there anyway?"

"I'm a natural sensor, according to Temari-nee. I know she was the one to convince the Suna kunoichi to teach me all the best ways to lay perverts down low with a single well placed kick or some good hits," said Nozomi cheerfully.

The woman grinned at her hearing that.

"What's your name little rabbit?"

"Sawada Nozomi, Nee-san," she chirped.

She blinked a bit at that, before ruffling the girl's hair.

"Mitarashi Anko, Konoha special jounin," she said.

* * *

Nozomi suddenly found herself with an armful of happy blond when Naruto saw the outfit she had given him. After a few days in his presence, she had quickly figured out why Naruto wore his rather horrible clothes.

He was like Gaara, except considering his birth day and where he lived he had the Kyuubi, rather than Shukaku.

She would never forget the look on Gaara's face (or Temari and Kankuro for that matter) when the first time Gaara fell asleep outside her presence and went on a rampage, she came face to face with the cranky raccoon and instead of running away in fear struck up a conversation with it.

Though if their faces were hilarious, it was _nothing_ compared to the look on the Kazekage's face when he found out that if they wanted less bloodshed when the one-tail was out, all they had to do was get it very, very drunk. Shukaku loved blood, but it had been sober for well over a century which was part of the reason it was so crabby.

So long as the Suna nin were willing to treat him like a grumpy boss summon and provide proper booze, he was less inclined to turn them all into paste when he was out.

Poor Gaara still suffered a massive hangover, but that was a small price to pay to keep Shukaku happy.

"So...what's the Kyuubi like? Is he a total grump like his brother, or is he actually nice?" asked Nozomi innocently.

Naruto sputtered.

"How do..."

"Anyone with eyes can see you're treated the same way as Gaara-nii while he's in Suna, and your birthday matches up. Besides, you always felt like a cuddly fox to me," she admitted. "So have you met him yet?"

"...You're not afraid of me?" said Naruto.

"I just admitted to meeting Shukaku, the Kyuubi's little brother. Though I highly doubt Kyuubi is his name, since that's more of a description than anything. And no, I'm not afraid. Why would I be?" asked Nozomi.

"It's just...everyone always treats me like I'm the fox or something," said Naruto.

"Naruto is Naruto, and Kyuubi is Kyuubi. It's like treating the sealing scroll as the kunai, instead of just another scroll," said Nozomi sensibly. "Then again, most of humanity is made up of mindless idiotic sheep, so it makes sense they wouldn't know or care about the difference."

Seeing Naruto start to tear up, Nozomi pulled him into a comforting hug, without caring that he latched onto her. Gaara had done the same when he found out she wasn't afraid of him after learning he had Shukaku in him.

Then again, Shukaku had shown a strange preference to her presence. It didn't hurt that Nozomi was sensible enough to treat him like a thinking, rational being who should be as respected as a boss summon of a summon set.

Or, and he would keep this to himself, that she had the comforting aura of home around her that made it very easy to feel safe in her presence. If she accepted him, then it would mean he would always have a place to simply rest and relax.

Naruto was clearly unsure of himself when they went to eat some ramen. After learning of how the people in the village treated him, and how it was rare for anyone to let him in a restaurant or store without either being chased out or charged massive prices, it was understandable why he ate so much of the stuff.

Considering her own reputation, she felt more empathy than most would.

He was practically leaning against her, taking in her comforting presence when a loud, angry cry was heard. It was Sakura-chan!

"Naruto! What are you doing leaning against a foreign diplomat like that?!" shrieked Sakura outraged.

Honestly, it was like he went out of his way to embarrass her!

Before her fist could make contact with his head, a hand stopped her.

It was Nozomi, and she was less than amused.

"Do you know this girl, Naruto-kun?" she asked evenly, unaware her eyes were glowing a vibrant orange that was akin to the setting sun.

"She's my teammate, Sakura," said Naruto.

He felt as though something important was happening, but he had no idea why. Just that it would change a few things.

"Care to explain why you felt it was appropriate to hit him for simply leaning against me?" asked Nozomi. Her voice was calm but it was clear she was _pissed_.

"He should know better than to lean on foreign diplomats. Its embarrassing and looks bad on the village."

"Foreign diplomat? What on earth gave you _that_ idea?" said Nozomi baffled. "I'm a _civilian_ who's only relation to Gaara and the others is through our mothers. I have no pull whatsoever with the Kazekage through his children and he barely tolerates me."

Which was more or less true. The Kazekage was _highly_ interested in how she was able to tame Shukaku so easily, but it wasn't enough to earn any favor unless she could teach it to others or knew how she did it herself. She also wasn't related to him directly, just through his dead wife.

In short she had next to no influence on the man and was sensible enough to know better than to ask anything of him that was more than Gaara or the others could do.

Nozomi turned that terrifying gaze on Sakura, who felt as though she was being put under an important judgment.

"Furthermore I find it appalling that you seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to treat a minor infraction like being a little too familiar with someone you don't know with physical abuse," she said coldly.

Something seemed to dislodge in Naruto's mind, because he said without realizing it "She does it all the time."

Nozomi's gaze hardened and Sakura felt two feet tall.

"Are you related to him, or his girlfriend?" she asked bluntly.

"Of course not! Who would want to date the deadlast?" she said without realizing it. She meant it though, Nozomi could tell.

"Then what right do you have to hit Naruto for every little thing?" said Nozomi. "And before you say it's because you're teammates, I would like to remind you that you won't always be teammates with him. Chunin join new squads and get reassigned all the time. I am amazed your sensei has allowed this sort of behavior to continue in the first place."

Naruto wasn't the only one staring at her. Now that he thought about it, Sakura used to hit him a lot even though they were classmates. And he simply took it with a smile, even though he was in a lot of pain.

Nozomi gave Sakura a cold hard look.

"Before you decide it's acceptable to dole out abuse for minor infractions, maybe you should take a good long look at the sort of person you'll become later in life," said Nozomi.

Sakura couldn't help but feel as though she was being reprimanded by the Hokage himself and failed an important test at the same time. It was not a good feeling, and she left without a word.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, confused.

"You're my friend and there's no way I'm going to let some brat hit you just because she has an overinflated ego. I have to put up with attitudes like that all the time back home and it sucks," said Nozomi, making sure he saw her hand before gently ruffling his head.

Naruto was quiet, before he said in a much smaller voice... "You think of me as a friend?"

"Aren't we?" asked Nozomi, smiling gently.

Naruto stuck to her side like glue the entire night, though she noticed the approval and sad expressions on Teuchi and Ayame's faces.

Fortunately Gaara had seen the entire thing and could make a guess that she wouldn't be returning to the hotel for the night. Naruto happily cuddled into her side for the rest of the day, just basking in the strange aura Nozomi had.

The next morning, he decided to try and find out the fox's name. Nozomi said he must have one, and considering what she said about the similarity of a boss summon and a bijuu (at least to her) and how the Kyuubi might react better if he treated the fox like he would Gamabunta, he could only hope that he made better progress than he had the first time.

* * *

 _Nozomi POV_

Nozomi had a rather strange dream, after telling Naruto she thought of him as her friend and defending him from his teammate.

It was a strange sewer system, one that was rather dreary. Considering the dream she had shortly before the first time she saw Shukaku, she could make a guess what this was about.

Sure enough, she saw a massive cage held back by a single seal...and behind the bars was an enourmous red fox made of bubbling chakra.

She walked up without fear, her gut instinct telling her it was okay. That she would be safe.

"Hello sir. What's your name?"

The fox blinked at her, confused by the lack of fear and the fact she was treating him as a thinking being, rather than a mindless beast.

" **Come closer to the cage, little rabbit,"** he growled.

Nozomi gave him a flat look.

"I may not think of you as a mindless beast, but I'm not stupid enough to get within range of your claws. If you want me to help discuss terms with Naruto on how to make your confinement a bit less tiresome, then I will have to ask that you at least attempt to be civil," she said bluntly.

" **Civil?!"** he roared irate. **"You preach to me about civility when your wretched kind have kept me imprisoned for over eighty years, to be used as a battery for their damnable jutsu?!"**

"I said _attempt_ to be civil, as in you don't try to eat, maim or otherwise attack me with anything but words. I said nothing about you having to be happy or accepting of the fact you are currently stuck in a genin," Nozomi shot back. "Personally I think the Elemental Nations would be better off without Jinchuriki or using so many flashy jutsu. However humanity is always trying find new ways to kill each other, and as walking beings of pure chakra it's only natural that you would make attractive targets to act as a nuclear deterrent."

Kyuubi's rant stopped cold at that. Never before had a _human_ been the one to disapprove of the whole practice or state that the world would be better off without making sacrifices to bind them back. Or even admit that all they were was victims of humanity's greed.

Seeing she was being sincere...another rarity...he settled down as best he could and actually looked at her.

"Now that you've at least partially calmed down, is there anything I can do to at least make this cage a little less cramped? I'm sure if you could give me any tips or advice, I could pass them on to Naruto and at least give you some form of comfort to make things less difficult. I'm trying to convince him to give you the same respect as a boss summon, since I highly doubt he would be foolish enough to demand 'rent' from the toad boss the same way he did you."

" **What makes you think you would have any effect on how I'm treated? You're not even a shinobi!"** countered Kyuubi, though you could tell he was interested now.

"Because I got Suna to get Shukaku drunk every time he's out, rather than try to fight him off. Considering the last time I saw that raccoon he was happily downing several barrels of mid-level sake rather than trying to crush every human in sight and giving the shinobi a break with them being the suppliers, odds are they will at least take it into consideration."

Kyuubi snorted at that...but he also gave Nozomi a list that she could pass on later.

He found himself pleasantly surprised when a few weeks later, there was a noticeable difference in his cage and the atmosphere. For once a human kept her word and now he was quite curious what she could do that the others could not.


	4. Chapter 4

Nozomi looked at the Kazekage and frowned. She couldn't put her finger on what it was, but she _knew_ that it wasn't her uncle-in-law.

"What's wrong?" asked Temari quietly.

"That's not the Kazekage. I don't know who it is, but it's not him," she said.

Temari paused.

"Is it your gut telling you that, or just a general feeling of unease?" she asked.

They had learned _very_ quickly that when Nozomi had a 'gut feeling' about something, that every time it generally turned out to be _true_. It might not reveal itself right away, but it often had a habit of happening sooner rather than later.

For a shinobi, who's life was at risk every day, that sort of warning could be priceless especially if it provided more than just a general alarm. More often than not, when Nozomi had a 'gut feeling' it often came with a specific action or warning of what to avoid.

As a result Temari and the others were more inclined to listen to her with full attention if she had one of her 'warnings'.

Nozomi had absolutely no clue about it, as she usually followed it on instinct.

Baki listened intently, since he was also aware of Nozomi's almost superhuman instincts for trouble.

Nozomi's eyes glowed almost an amber color as she said "It's not him. I can't explain how I know or why, but I _know_ that's not really him. All my instincts are screaming to run as far away as fast as I can from his presence, because it feels absolutely vile. There's also a strange undercurrent about snakes, but that's about it."

Baki almost growled.

The second she mentioned snakes, he had an idea what happened.

Orochimaru had decided to replace their leader, likely to get close to his teacher and kill him. Which meant the Kazekage was almost certainly dead or a hostage, and they were being played for fools all because some arrogant snake wanted a chance at the third Hokage.

"Stay here. I need to have a word with the others. Do not let anyone from Oto near her or Gaara," said Baki.

"Yes, sensei," said Temari and Kankuro.

By the time he came back, the plan had been altered slightly.

They would continue with the invasion as planned, but the _second_ Orochimaru attacked the Hokage they would immediately turn on the Oto shinobi for the betrayal and help the Konoha nin. After all, only a select few were aware of Nozomi's warnings. They might respect her for finally getting Gaara under control, but they wouldn't listen to her vague warnings without proof first.

Baki, on the other hand, was a jounin and close to the Kazekage. If he said there was a chance Orochimaru had killed their kage and taken his place to go after the Sandaime, the Suna nin would believe him. After all, what would he have to gain by lying about such a thing when he was the one who had to be in close proximity to Gaara every day?

* * *

Nozomi sat up in the stands next to Hinata, who she had become rather fond of. The girl was shy, but she had a strong heart and the two had become fast friends almost immediately. Both of them hated fighting and the idea of hurting others, but neither of them would hesitate if it meant defending their loved ones. Nozomi was rather envious Hinata had a little sister to spoil, even if Hanabi was something of a brat.

She could openly sympathize with having a crush on a boy that seemed unreachable by mortal standards.

For Hinata, she had a crush on Naruto who was a social outcast and therefor not 'worthy' for the Hyuuga princess, even if he had a decent chance of complimenting Hinata's gentle personality.

For Nozomi, who's exposure to the shinobi lifestyle and the restructuring of certain morals had caused a shift in her own way of thinking, it was a certain demon prefect. After several visits to Suna and getting to know her cousins better, she found herself looking at her classmates and finding them wanting in many ways. The only one she found even remotely interesting was Hibari-sempai, who would never look at someone like her twice in a romantic sense.

It was still nice to look from afar and sigh in disappointment because she knew deep down he would never regard her as worthy. Not unless a miracle happened anyway.

(When Nozomi showed Hinata one of the few good pictures she had of Hibari, the girl had immediately compared him to Sasuke Uchiha, except with a far more tolerable personality. At least Nozomi didn't squeal over boys like the majority of Sasuke's fan girls did.)

Kurenai rather approved of the tiny civilian. Her presence was good for Hinata, as she provided a female friend the girl could confide in that wouldn't hurt her.

Even if Nozomi _did_ remind her of a fluffy bunny.

Nozomi looked at Hinata with sympathy as the girl clutched her hand. She was torn between cheering on her rather angry cousin and the boy she had a deep crush on. In the end she remained silent and just prayed that neither one of them suffered permanent injury.

When Naruto won, and gave Neji the overdue reality check he so desperately needed, Nozomi hugged Hinata. The girl was almost faint with relief and could only hope her beloved 'nii-san' would learn to drop some of his defeatist attitude.

The two of them watched the fights, and she could only feel sympathy when Temari faced that shadow user, who made her win after soundly defeating her.

She could just tell Temari wanted to wring his neck for giving her a false victory. She barely restrained her fury on the matter.

It was when the fake feathers began to fall that she knew something terrible was happening.

Temari had coached her several months ago about how to deal with genjutsu, which was what the shinobi called the art of illusion.

There were a few ways to break out of one, but the most common was introducing foreign chakra to your system...or causing just enough pain to snap out of it, preferably without causing permanent harm to yourself.

Nozomi didn't have any weapons, but she did have one thing available to practically everyone.

She bit her lip hard enough to taste blood, thus negating the genjutsu's effects. Kurenai looked at her with an appraising expression, before a hint of respect was seen in her eyes. Every other civilian was out cold by this point, but Nozomi was still wide awake and scared out of her wits. But she wasn't running. There was a hint of steel in her eyes that said she wouldn't hesitate to fight if necessary.

For the most part she kept her head down and tried not to get in the way of the shinobi.

At least until a man wearing a Konoha headband and glasses appeared before her, looking at her as if she was some new experiment.

Her 'inner warning system' went off like a klaxon, telling her to get as far away from him _now_ because if he caught her she would not like what he would do to her. And it wouldn't be because he wanted to relieve his more carnal urges on her either.

It would be far worse.

His smirk was cold and had no soul to it. Unknown to Nozomi, her eyes began to glow from an internal light that turned her eyes into an amber orange.

Without a second thought, and following her instincts, she dove over the side of the wall that lead to the arena, uncaring of the fact that it was far too high up for her to survive without some major injury.

With all the fighting going on, very few would have seen her jump. At least none of those she had befriended anyway.

Seeing the ground close in and knowing she had no way of stopping herself, she had only one thought.

 _I DON'T WANT TO DIE!_

Images of her family and the friends she had made passed her mind, and how they would all be terribly upset if she were gone flashed through her head.

Something inside her seemed to snap, as warmth flooded her body. It felt right, like something that had been forcibly taken from her was being released and everything was being unleashed all at once.

Flames erupted from her forehead as she found the ground coming towards her at a much slower rate. She barely registered Gaara's presence, or the fact that he was there when the flames sputtered out and he caught her.

Gaara was _not happy_. Someone had either thrown his favorite cousin over that wall, or gave her enough reason to jump herself.

Considering he spotted a man with silver hair looking down with a predatory gaze that he vaguely recognized talking to Baki earlier, he had a good idea whom.

And if Gaara wasn't happy, then Shukaku was livid.

For reasons the bijuu was quite unlikely to explain, he _liked_ Nozomi. She was quite possibly one of the few humans he would try to avoid killing if possible while on a rampage.

There was one thing that baffled Gaara though, and that was the fact that the comforting presence he had always equated to Nozomi had somehow ramped up to twenty once she burst into orange flames.

Somehow he had the feeling his new friend Naruto would approve of the color, considering his own love of orange.

For now he had idiots to deal with and a cousin to keep safe.

* * *

Nozomi was quite glad that her summer vacation lasted two months. She really didn't want to explain to Hibari-sempai that she had been detained in a foreign country because her cousins were part of an invasion force.

She highly doubted he would believe it, even if she presented proof, and would likely bite her to death for missing so much as a week.

As it was, she was one of the few who _wasn't_ forced to spend her time in a holding cell or being interrogated simply because she was a civilian.

Once Baki was released, she went to find him.

"You want us to what?" said Baki, staring at her.

"I think it would be best for all involved if Gaara and the others disappeared for a bit. At least a month or two to calm things down and give everyone a chance to deal with any losses they had without reminding them of the idiotic deal the Kazekage made," said Nozomi.

Because it wouldn't surprise her in the least if the shinobi looked at Gaara, Temari and Kankuro and were reminded of their father's failures.

Baki gave her a flat look.

"You just want to bring your cousins on a vacation to the Outside, don't you?"

"There is that. Plus it would free you of having to act as their sensei for a short time, which means you would be able to help reorganize your remaining forces long enough to keep the other nations from getting ideas," said Nozomi.

Baki looked seriously tempted by the idea. Then again, he had a good idea who to ask in order to push through the measure so long as it was temporary. Besides, it would give the council some time to think things over without having to deal with a potential loose cannon in their midst with Gaara around.

Though he wasn't going to say no to the idea of Jiraiya fixing Gaara's seal. The Sannin had made it clear after learning the original plan that he would look it over and preferably do something about it, as he didn't like the fact the plan was to set Shukaku loose on a village that had already suffered an attack by the Kyuubi.

(Nozomi had already tracked down said man and told him flat out to include something that would at least allow Shukaku to take over a simple sand clone, so he could get still get drunk. She thought it would be very rude indeed to bait the demon with the freedom it had previously enjoyed, only to take it away with the new seal. Considering he had _seen_ her ball busting techniques, and the fact it presented an interesting challenge, Jiraiya had agreed to look into it. He had high hopes to be done before they left.)

Considering the headache he had, and the fact that this would at least relieve some of the burdens he had to deal with in keeping Gaara under control, he had no issue sending them outside the veil.

Besides, the limited books Nozomi had been able to acquire had been of great interest to the council. Particularly the medical books and the ones about common herbs. He was sure Temari and Kankuro could find even more information that they could bring back to justify the vacation.

There was just one small problem. Nozomi was due back in her hometown in less than a week, and the siblings wouldn't be released for at least another eight days.

Baki couldn't escort her back either, and it would take a civilian at least three days to reach Suna. At least he could make sure she was escorted past the Leaf/Sand border by the patrols, who were at least briefed on what she looked like and the fact she kept the Shukaku calm enough that he didn't go on a rampage again.

For that fact alone they would protect her.

Nozomi made sure to say good bye to Naruto, Hinata and Lee.

Hinata in particular made a note to get her hands on a messenger hawk or at least an egg so she could write to Nozomi.

* * *

 _At the border of Suna_

When Nozomi finally arrived four days later, she had someone with her. It was a girl with a rather flat chest, long dark brown hair and kind eyes. She wore a relatively new kimono and followed Nozomi like a puppy.

Her name was Haku. The _same_ Haku Naruto had mentioned when he spoke about the Wave mission and how he had a bridge named after him in remembrance to how he had brought hope to the people in the village.

Considering Nozomi had taken a slight detour to see the bridge in question and to listen to Tazuna's take on the whole thing...and ended up finding Haku, who was hiding in the woods nearby to guard Zabuza's blade...it was only understandable that Nozomi would end up collecting the stray kunoichi without a village.

Haku kept the headband, because Zabuza had given it to her, but it was firmly sealed in a scroll along with everything else. She would have to find someone worthy of of his sword before she passed it on.

Since Haku had no reason to live, being a 'tool' for her master, she opted to follow Nozomi instead. She had this aura about her that said she would be a good person to follow, even if she made sounds of dismay every time Haku tried to call herself a 'tool for Nozomi-sama'.

Besides, Haku was rather interested to find out what the world outside the veil was like.


	5. Chapter 5

Haku's presence was almost immediately accepted in the Sawada household, and she found it rather soothing to act as Nana's unofficial bodyguard. Since she didn't really know much about the education standards of the outside, she couldn't really help with Nozomi's homework. Besides, she had been self-taught by Zabuza, who didn't really care much about that sort of thing.

Nana had discreetly enrolled Haku into online classes and directed her to the library, where the girl spent her weekends catching up. She had high hopes to pass 'high school' within the next few years.

However what Haku _could_ do was teach Nozomi basic taijutsu. She expanded on the rough and dirty attacks the Suna kunoichi had taught her and found Nozomi an enthusiastic student with an aptitude for hand to hand combat.

Then again, Nozomi had been learning a few things from Gai when she expressed an interest in pure taijutsu. He had been kind enough to share a few scrolls even a civilian could learn that suited her body type and skill level. Nozomi sometimes had trouble reading the scrolls though, because a few required active chakra, but Haku could read through them no problem and understood what some of the short hand meant.

(Gai had mostly shared them as a thank you for cheering up his favorite student when he was so depressed and giving him an idea of where to take his ninja career once his limbs were fixed. That and he wasn't about to discourage someone from learning self-defense.)

Hibari at first didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with the 'small animal'...though he did promptly call Haku a 'decieving carnivore' the first time a few yakuza had the foolish notion to try and make a move on her because she was looking to resupply on some proper weapons and ended up with several senbon in very uncomfortable places.

He had taken _one_ look at the placement of the needles, and after a brief attempt to test Haku (only to end up in ice that eventually melted after less than an hour, thus solidifying Haku as someone not to be messed with by the underworld part of Namimori) had known that she would not hesitate to dole out far more lethal responses to attacks.

He still tested her, but there was a definite respect towards the former kunoichi...even if she did pretend to be an herbivore. He could respect the fact Sawada had her guarding her pack mother, who was an herbivore that was just asking to be killed.

Nozomi's day turned rather...odd...when she was running late to school and found Hibari already waiting.

For the most part he had ignored her...right up until he tried to give her the usual 'warning' about being late, which was basically a really nasty bruise and possibly a headache for the rest of the day.

Hibari had reached a compromise with the teachers years ago about his disciplinary methods. He was allowed to 'nip' at the students who were late or broke minor infractions, but they still had to attend class that day and he couldn't cause a concussion. Unless they were deliberately causing trouble, he couldn't leave more than a simple bruise or two.

Nozomi had been sparring with Haku rather regularly once they puzzled out most of the scrolls she had gotten from Gai, never mind Haku's own hand-to-hand training. Nozomi had a good eye, but her throwing ability left much to be desired. Even if she did have an instinctive idea of proper placement when it came to needles.

Haku planned to work her up to being able to use senbon the way she could, as it was a weapon most people dismissed unless they were extra paranoid about them.

A metal set of sticks to hold up one's hair was often ignored unless you were dealing with someone who killed others regularly. Then you had to be creative about it.

So it was with great surprise that she found herself moving to _avoid_ Hibari's weapon, and to perform a basic block in the event that she couldn't.

She knew the gleam of Hibari's eyes meant trouble. And to be honest, she was rather curious as to how good her skills had gotten with someone who knew what they were doing to help her.

Besides, she hated Nezu's class and sparring sounded far more fun than listening to him snipe at her for an hour with the class laughing at her.

She lost, badly, but there was a hint of respect in Hibari's eyes. The fact she didn't shy away when he came after her a second time the next day, or the day after that and actually started to show improvement was only a sign that he wasn't about to let up.

Hibari had found a new playmate, one that wasn't afraid of him and showed proper respect to his ability guard his territory.

Nozomi still wasn't foolish enough to act on her crush on him though. Not a chance in hell. She was interesting to him, but not that interesting.

Yet.

* * *

Temari wasn't impressed with Namimori, not one bit. Even mentioning the Sawada's got a bunch of hushed whispers that made her blood boil because the idiot civilians were disparaging her family!

She managed to hold off her irritation long enough to find the house, only to discover a veritable feast waiting for them...along with what appeared to be a kunoichi from their side of the veil.

How Nozomi managed to find a stray kunoichi who didn't actually _hold_ an allegiance to any of the known villages was a mystery, but oddly enough perfectly in line with the girl's luck. As it was the second Temari found out Haku was a semi-skilled iryo-nin, she resolved to make as many copies of the jutsu available in Suna to pass along to the other girl. Ironically medical ninjutsu was one of the few types that wasn't hoarded by certain families unless it was connected to a bloodline limit. Anyone could get their hands on the scrolls, it just took training and ability.

Even more surprising was the fact Haku had a bloodline ability that if trained properly would make them a terrifyingly effective medic. After all, she could have a ready access to senbon anytime simply by using her ice. With a few seals and the right tools, Haku could have water with them anytime and basic seal books were rather cheap.

For the most part, the visit was a somewhat nice vacation. They would stay in Namimori for a full month...mostly to keep Gaara far from the village until things settled down and cooler heads prevailed, along with his "minders"... and enjoy being normal for a change.

That wasn't to say they would let their training lapse. Temari was quick to help Nozomi train in her taijutsu and figure out what the odd fire she could create could do. So far it seemed limited to flying, though it was very rough until Temari got frustrated and brought out a special fan made of chakra conductive materials.

Whatever the fire was, it acted very much like chakra. That made it easier to train, once they figured out what worked and what didn't.

So far it had at least _five_ different effects. The red color acted much like an acid, disintergrating everything it touched. The yellow color was much like iryo-jutsu, and speed up healing considerably (it reacted well to the same hand signs medic nin used, much to Haku's delight). The blue color was calming, almost peaceful...however it could freeze things with the right application. The green one was close to chakra reinforcement, hardening anything it came into contact so long as it was active. The indigo one... that one was tricky until Kankuro realized it was almost akin to using genjutsu, except it seemed to rely on belief and could make solid objects out of nothing.

It was the orange one, which seemed to be Nozomi's strongest color, that baffled them. About the only application it seemed to have was flying, until Nozomi accidentally activated it when she was avoiding some of her more persistent bullies.

It took her some time to adequately describe the way the bullies had overlooked the area she was in repeatedly, until Temari was able to put a word to it.

Somehow the orange fire allowed Nozomi to hide in plain sight like a camoflage, making her part of her surroundings. It was almost akin to the tales she had heard of Sage chakra, to be honest, just without the risk of becoming a stone statue.

And she was only able to make _that_ comparison thanks to her summons, who had limited knowledge of it.

They immediately called Nozomi a "natural sage", which was amazing considering how rare it was to find one. A pity she was just a civilian...she could have been one of the greats with enough training.

However Nozomi didn't care about the politics of the Elemental Nations so long as her family was safe. She would only train in the odd fire so that she wouldn't be helpless again if she were visiting her cousins and had to fight for her life.

No one would expect a harmless little 'bunny' as Haku jokingly called her to have the claws and fangs of a tiger just waiting to attack.

(Temari still had pictures of the incredulous look her summons had when Nozomi had taken _one_ look at him, and promptly cuddled him while calling the ferocious looking weasel with a sickle "cute". She was sure Kamatachi would never live it down if his summon set ever heard such a thing about him.)

The one upside to being stuck in Namimori for a month was the fact that they _finally_ got to meet the infamous Demon Nozomi tended to speak of with mixed respect, admiration and a bit of wariness.

"So you're the 'Hibari-sempai' my dear little cousin has a crush on," said Temari with amusement.

Hibari Kyouya had challenged them the first week they were there, and had promptly declared Temari and Gaara "carnivores", which was a high compliment from him. Kankuro, much to his annoyance, was deemed a "barely acceptable omnivore".

Hibari raised an eyebrow, before he registered the horrified squeak from the small animal that was slowly becoming interesting.

"Temari-nee, I don't have a crush on him!" hissed Nozomi.

Temari smirked.

"Oh come on, little sister, it's as plain as day you like him. At least you have good taste," said Temari grinning.

It was the age-old prerogative of older sibling everywhere to mortify and encourage the younger ones.

And it was so obvious Nozomi liked Hibari Kyouya, that Temari couldn't resist teasing her.

Nozomi looked mortified.

"And I know perfectly well that until I elevate myself above 'small animal' in his eyes to the point I wouldn't need to rely on him to keep me safe he'd never give me the time of day," said Nozomi miserably and tired.

Hibari snorted. She was entirely correct in that regard...he would never accept a small animal incapable of defending themselves from fake carnivores without his interference as 'worthy'. Right now she was mildly interesting, but not worth persuing. She would have to prove she was worth his time.

Either way it was painfully clear to Temari that Nozomi had almost no self confidence as a girl, which she felt needed to be corrected. Even she knew a few things civilian girls could use to make themselves feel a bit prettier and more confident as young women around boys they liked.

Aunt Nana didn't particularly care, so long as Nozomi was actually happy for once. Allowing her daughter to visit her cousins had been the best move she had ever made in that regard.

* * *

It was such a normal day...then she heard the news that Takeshi Yamamoto, the baseball star, had broken his arm and would be banned from playing for at least two months.

It devastated the team since he was their best player and the only one she had ever seen practicing properly. However the most painful thing she saw was the look in his eyes, being kept from the one thing that he had focused his life around.

Realizing that his 'friends' were all too happy to ditch him simply because he couldn't play for a while and his star quietly began to decline. All the fake words of 'encouragement' they didn't meant in the least, all while subtly turning their backs on him.

Nozomi wasn't surprised in the _least_ when Takeshi went up to the roof and went past the guard railing less than a week after he broke his arm.

However it pissed her off that no one had seen how much the boy was hurting. He was one of the rare few who had never joined in on the mocking or called her Dame-Nozomi. She had simply been beneath his notice since he had been one of the 'popular kids' for so long.

It was a good thing she had managed to get something close to 'water-walking' down last week. The odd orange fire didn't stick to the water, but she could at least hover enough that it made little difference. It was an excellent control exercise that she planned to keep up.

Seeing the precarious position Takeshi was in, Nozomi frowned. Everyone was 'trying' to persuade him back past the guard rails, but she could see it in their eyes they didn't care about him. Not really.

And if she could tell, then it was fairly obvious Takeshi would notice as well. Frankly she was more surprised Hibari wasn't up here already to disperse the crowd and forcibly drag Yamamoto away from the rails. A suicide as public and messy as the one the baseball star was trying to pull would disturb the peace immensely and piss off the demon prefect to no end.

Nozomi didn't bother to try and talk the idiot off the ledge. Takeshi would only see reason after, once things had calmed down. Instead she did something really stupid and no little bit foolhardy.

She wrapped the coil of ninja wire firmly around one of the rails that _wasn't_ rusted like the second Takeshi was at, and nodded, before putting on the special gloves Haku had given her when she realized Nozomi's knack to taijutsu.

Nozomi took a running leap, relying on the orange fire to keep her alive, before landing almost quietly on the other side of the school...and running along the wall, using the wire to make herself into a living pendulum.

Takeshi never saw _what_ slammed into him from behind, just that he felt himself pitch _forward_ towards the roof rather than _away_ if he was about to fall to his death.

Standing there with a less than amused look on her face was the last person he ever expected to see. Nozomi Sawada.

"And what exactly," she said with an irate tone, "Did you think you were _doing_? Are you really so heartless that you would forget the fact you would be leaving your father all alone to suffer losing his son, all because of something as stupid as not being able to play a _sport_?"

Takeshi winced...he hadn't considered his father's reaction to the news.

"That idiot coach should have noticed you were over-exerting your arm and benched you long before you got hurt, to say nothing about how lazy the rest of the team is! Last I checked, baseball was a _team_ sport...not one that relied on a single good player and a bunch of half-assed ones. You should have called those idiots on the fact they never properly practiced long before it reached this point!"

Takeshi rubbed the back of his head nervously. He never expected _Sawada_ to be the one giving him the riot act.

"How did you kick me from behind?" he finally asked.

That was the one question on everyone's minds.

Nozomi pointed to a section some distance away, where something had been tied to the railing. Closer inspection revealed it to be some sort of wire or possibly a metal rope.

"I turned myself into a human pendulum to insure you pitched forward to the idiots on the roof, rather than away from it," she deadpanned. "Why no one simply thought to sneak up behind and drag you away from the damn railing I will never understand, but I am not going to get between Hibari's reaction to the fact you were planning to do something so completely stupid. There are more important things in life than worrying about what other people think about you, or being popular."

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, mostly of disbelief and irritation at being called an idiot from the one student who always had the worst grades in class, Nozomi glared at them all. Strangely, the majority of them backed off upon seeing it.

"Just so we're clear, the _only_ reason I saved your idiotic life is because you were one of the ONLY people in our damn class who has never once called me Dame-Nozomi or joined in on the mocking."

Takeshi had a lot to think about, and it didn't help he was forced into mandatory therapy the second his father found out what almost happened.

Nozomi was more than a little baffled as to why Takeshi started to slowly migrate towards her during class times. Everyone was still rather apathetic about the event, and started to act like it never happened for some bizarre reason.

Still, it seemed that the former baseball ace (he was banned from the team until he was considered 'stable' by the therapist) had determined Nozomi was a better sort of friend to have compared to the sycophants he had surrounded himself with before.

Even if he was more of a samurai than a ninja.


	6. Chapter 6

Haku was unsure how to feel about Takeshi Yamamoto. As a civilian turned shinobi, there was a sense of mercilessness that came from being a ninja. One that was tempered by the fact she much preferred to heal as opposed to kill.

With the teen Nozomi had saved and reprimanded for his foolishness, there was a sense of a true samurai that was hiding the bloodthirsty nature of a natural killer. If and when the other teen found a worthy lord to serve, Haku had _zero_ illusions about the fact that he would not hesitate to slaughter anyone and everyone in the way of his master. The samurai code would only temper his blade to make him even more terrifyingly efficient, rather than restrict him.

In a way, Haku rather approved of him. However that didn't stop her from feeling as though that allegiance was on the edge of a kunai, one that could tip one way or another.

One fact was certain...there was no way in _hell_ Yamamoto would remain a civilian. At some point the underworld on this side of the veil would notice his true nature and take advantage of him.

Which was why Haku sought out the teen's father. She wanted to find out more about the family the other teen came from before she would allow him to ally himself with her master.

Tsuyoshi was not a civilian. Haku immediately knew she was in the presence of a retired assassin, one that had decided to settle down...and had apparently produced a son with the same inclination for cold blooded killing. A penance for past sins, as it were.

Fortunately the restaurant was relatively quiet...it was during a time of day when few would be in the mood for lunch just yet, giving them some semblance of privacy.

"You're here about Takeshi."

"Your son is indeed rather impressive. However I wish to affirm for myself if it is wise to allow him near my master," said Haku, inclining her head. "While I have no doubts of his potential loyalty once secured, I would prefer to know more about his heritage."

"You mean you want to assure yourself that he doesn't have any hidden issues that will come back to bite your master in the ass," snorted Tsuyoshi. "I should have seen the issue with his attempt much sooner... Rains have always been prone to crippling depression when they don't have anyone to properly ground them."

Latching on to a source of potential information of the odd fires that Nozomi could create, Haku pressed.

"Rains?"

Tsuyoshi, to Haku's shock, produced a familiar...if considerably weaker...blue flame.

"...That is not chakra," said Haku, intent.

"...Elemental Nations?" asked Tsuyoshi carefully. He knew a little bit about shinobi, mostly because he had tried to find the source of their family sword style. Apparently the family had left the Elemental nations when shinobi started to become too prevalent for them to take, and they had no desire to become tools of war for the faithless ninja to use. They refused to change from their samurai roots and found a new home in Nippon for them to flourish.

"Formerly. My master is a civilian who is learning basic shinobi training for self-defense, with connections through her mother," said Haku. "We've had limited success experimenting with such odd fires."

Tsuyoshi stared at Haku...before quietly flipping the sign to closed.

"It seems we need to have a long chat, before _they_ show up."

At least Haku finally had an explanation for the fire Nozomi could use...even if it brought an entirely new set of headaches to watch out for. Oddly enough, when Haku mentioned that Nozomi's primary fire was orange-colored any issue the older man had with his son being around the girl died in an instant. While he wouldn't pressure Takeshi into trying to court her as a girl, he was rather pleased that Nozomi wasn't adverse to his son's presence around her.

"So the fire is actually called 'flames', and unlike chakra it's strictly regulated by a force called the Vindice? And trying to use it where witnesses can see will have me arrested?" said Nozomi, tilting her head curiously.

She had mostly avoided populated areas when practicing with her newly freed powers because she didn't want some jerk seeing her and sending her off to a government lab. That and her instincts told her that allowing anyone to see it would cause far more trouble than she could reasonably ever get out of.

Haku nodded.

"Apparently the orange colored flame is extremely rare and acts like a sort of spiritual glue that draws the others to them. It's ability is 'harmony'. Though I have no idea why they insist on weather terminology to describe it," said Haku. "Also, most 'flame actives' tend to treat those who have the orange flame like pseudo-kage, or daimyos because they're considered the 'leader' of the flame types."

Nozomi made a face at that.

"And Takeshi's behavior recently?"

"Normal, apparently. His clan descended from people who left the Elemental Nations because they had no desire to see their skills or their swords used by the shinobi, so instead they moved to Japan and naturally integrated into the samurai class already present," said Haku. "However one ancestor apparently sided with the same man who created the original premise of the mafia, before greed and corruption turned it into what it is today. And Takeshi is a direct descendant."

"...What's your opinion? Should I let Takeshi in or not?" asked Nozomi unsure.

"His loyalty will be unquestioned once you've secured him. He is the sort of man who will not hesitate to end a threat against his lord permanently and will follow you to death and back," said Haku immediately. "If he can bring his combat skills up, then he would be a valuable asset that should not be idly tossed aside. Once his resolve is assured, his father has said that he would teach him the family sword style to make him a suitable Left Hand."

Nozomi made a face at that, but to be honest she rather desperately wanted someone to talk to in that blasted school. And Takeshi was nice enough to her before this entire mess happened. She didn't want to see him on the roof ever again because he had no one else to turn to.

At the very least she had no issues with calling him on his bullshit and getting his head back on straight.

"Did Tsuyoshi-san give a description of the others?"

"Red is Storm, and as we've discovered it's ability is disintegration. Orange is Sky and it's based on the concept of harmony, which is basically to draw in the others and make them into one whole...though apparently there's an odd side effect that allows flight. Yellow is Sun, which is activation and is most often used to heal. Green is Lightning, and it's ability is hardening. Blue, which is what Tsuyoshi has and what Takeshi will likely awaken, is Rain and it's ability is tranquility. Indigo is Mist, and it's ability is creation, though most generally use it as genjutsu or to make something out of nothing based on belief. Violet is the second rarest, and is known as Cloud...it's ability is propogation," said Haku, reciting the gist of what Tsuyoshi had told her. "Apparently severe depression is a common trait among Rains, which is why Takeshi went off the deep end so quickly when he broke his arm. He should stabilize if he manages to bond with you."

"Bond?!" said Nozomi alarmed.

"Sky flames are akin to spiritual glue...they draw people in to act as their protectors or 'Guardians', and in return the Sky provides a stability in their soul, allowing them to remain centered. From what I was told it's akin to having a home where one would have unconditional acceptance," said Haku with an odd tone in her voice.

From what little Tsuyoshi had been able to describe a guardian bond, Haku highly suspected she had one already with Nozomi. It would explain a lot.

After all, chakra was half 'spiritual', which meant there was a possibility that it drew on flames.

Which...explained quite a bit about chakra variants and why some people were predisposed to certain elements above others. And why certain hand signs seemed to work better for Nozomi, while some didn't work at all.

Hearing a light chirp, the two girls turned to grin at the tiny chick Gaara had left behind during his visit. He had been perfectly behaved the entire time (quietly freaking out/baffling his siblings) and had even brought an extra they hadn't anticipated in the form of a hawk and an egg kept carefully contained in stasis seals.

Nozomi had been tending the egg and keeping it warm for days until it hatched, revealing an absolutely adorable desert hawk with bits of orange threaded through it's feathers and an uncommon amount of intelligence.

She had named it Natsu, because it was during the summer that her life finally started turning around.

Haku would not be shocked in the least if Natsu turned out to be a nin-animal partner that was fully bonded to Nozomi.

Gaara had likely given her the egg to give Nozomi a way to contact them without having to wait for their letters. Once Natsu was big enough and knew the way through the veil, Haku suspected they would have far more to talk about.

As it was, she was going to wait for Gaara's own hawk to show up to tell the siblings what she had discovered about the fire and how they could use it to alter Nozomi's training to be more effective.

Nozomi cooed at her partner, threaded her fingers through his wings (which made Natsu's eyes sparkle with delight and the odd streak of orange) before turning back to Haku.

"So we're agreed to let Takeshi have a chance to join us?" asked Nozomi.

Haku would follow her to death and back... Nozomi was the only reason she had a purpose worth living for. If she wanted the odd assassin-born teen to join them, she had no objections as long as Takeshi never turned his blade on his master.

Haku couldn't abide traitors.

* * *

A small figure was heading to Namimori at the request of an acquaintance. He hadn't heard from the other man in some time, but the subject matter was serious enough that he headed straight for the town his kin was in post haste. The consequences of the children experimenting with something like _Sky_ flames without supervision was not something he wanted to contemplate.

The second he saw the partner animal in the home with clear evidence of _Sky flames,_ he knew he had found the right house. Whoever lived here had flames stronger and purer than any he had felt before, barring Luce.

No, there was a sort of 'steel' to these flames that said if the gauntlet was thrown they would not hesitate to join in the fighting, rather than lead from a distance as Luce would have. She had never been much good at fighting, though how much of that was due to her pregnancy he would never know.

"Turn around slowly and I might let you live," growled a voice with a dead serious tone.

The small body turned, and looked at approval at the young Mist-Rain. It would seem the Sky had already acquired a suitable protector for the civilian he had seen inside the home...though he detected the faint hint of 'Sun' threaded in the flames.

What immediately caught his attention though, was the fact that the girl before him had active chakra. _Trained_ active chakra, the likes of which he had only felt in one type of warrior.

What was a shinobi from the Elemental Nations doing here, and why the hell hadn't Tsuyoshi warned him?

"Greetings. Tsuyoshi-san called me in because he was concerned about a young Sky experimenting without proper supervision."

"And what would it matter to him if we were? We keep it quiet and out of sight from the civilians," said the kunoichi.

He grimaced.

"He didn't tell you about the effects Sky flames have on the others?" he asked.

"Aside from saying it was something like spiritual glue and how they're treated like kage or daimyo, no," said the kunoichi.

"Well to be perfectly blunt, Sky Flames have another aspect that most people dismiss or forget about. They basically act as catnip to those who have Flames and some can be rather...violent...when trying to earn the favor of one. It would be akin to how certain villages would treat the children of Kage who have kekkei genkai."

Dead silence.

"You're saying she would be a target?"

"Flame actives _rarely_ stayed unaffiliated for very long. I'm amazed no one picked up on her sooner, considering how coveted Skies are. Having one would elevate even a minor family high enough that they would kill to get their hands on her."

Then the smaller figure smirked.

"Besides, Tsuyoshi-san mentioned something about a student that would be open to learning _real_ martial arts, rather than the sport that is widely available. I had to admit, I was rather intrigued to have a student who has some connections to the Elemental nations and to see how far they had gotten with limited instruction."

"...Are you a taijutsu enthusiast who likes learning different styles for the fun of it?" asked the kunoichi carefully.

"I know over a hundred and eight styles already. What do you think?" he shot back.

"Do you swear upon your honor not to harm or deliver my master to any of these fools who would use her?"

"I came here to avert a potential disaster, especially considering Namimori is on a nexus point for Flame users. The last thing I want to deal with is my grandson being sent into Discord because a Sky was experimenting with their flames and rejected them," said the other flatly.

"...Hibari?"

The smaller figure nodded.

"Haku, I'm home!" called out a voice. The girl it belonged to paused and stared at the smaller figure. "Why is there a smaller, longer haired Hibari-sempai in red with a monkey on our front wall?"

"Ni Hao, little one. My name is Fon and Tsuyoshi-san called me in to avoid a potential disaster and to give you some proper training in how to use your flames," said Fon smiling.

Nozomi almost shuddered. Seeing a smaller Hibari actually _smiling_ like that was fairly creepy.

"Wait...does this mean we won't have to use hand signs anymore?" asked Nozomi.

Fon blinked.

"You've been able to successfully use hand signs to recreate jutsu using pure flames, and no chakra?" he asked intently.

Haku shrugged.

"Chakra is half spiritual, half physical energy. While her physical ability is less than acceptable for a genin, her spiritual ability is strong enough to make a credible recreation of certain jutsu with the correct hand signs. What I found odd was that it feels like her coils were blown up, and yet she's still able to use her flames normally."

"Blown up?" repeated Fon.

"There was an incident when I was visiting my cousins. I didn't want to end up dead on the ground because I jumped from a high place, and something seemed to snap...it really, really hurt and it took a week before I could leave the hospital bed. Fortunately I'm a civilian so I wasn't thrown into interrogation, but the medic nin still had an odd look and seem to think I was a failed genin or something," said Nozomi.

Fon stared at her intently.

"I think before we do any serious training we should have your flames examined. If your 'coils' feel like you've overexerted them despite not having an active chakra system in place, then I would very much like to ascertain the full extent of any issues we might face first. Fortunately I know a trustworthy doctor who knows how to keep his mouth shut."

Shamal might be Reborn's friend, but he would never turn down an interesting case like this. Besides, Nozomi and Haku were girls and he only ever put resistance about treating men.


	7. Chapter 7

Fon was very, very happy he had filed for an extended vacation, because the girls were rather attentive students.

Nozomi he had do basic training to improve her stamina and simple flame exercises that complimented the few 'chakra control' techniques Haku and Temari had taught her. She was a rather enthusiastic student who actually listened to his instructions and would work rather hard for a little bit of praise.

Haku was both easy and difficult to train. She had a few bad habits from her previous teacher who was more on getting her up to speed than properly training her. However she had a natural knack for precision attacks and he was more than happy to show her how to use her senbon to an even greater degree of efficiency.

Though Fon would be the first to admit he would have great difficulty fighting against her Demonic Ice Mirrors technique. Not even his Storm flames could melt that ice and with his training her speed only increased to the point he would have to put in a lot of effort in order to catch her.

Though once he _did_ manage to peg her with a lightly thrown rock, Haku had been 'stunned' long enough to deal with her. Apparently she was already aware of the issue with the split second it took to leave the mirror and attack, and how vulnerable she was when she left the mirrors even temporarily.

Naruto had been lucky enough to get a hit on her, and that was only because he tapped into his bijuu's chakra at the time.

However Fon had no complaints about his new students.

Then Shamal came and brought all sorts of uncomfortable questions.

Shamal took _one_ look at Nozomi's Flames before he started swearing very profusely in multiple languages.

Fon winced at the volume, while Nozomi cringed from the truly angry tone in Shamal's voice. Haku looked all too ready to deliver some punishment if the doctor turned his ire towards her master.

"I take it you found something?" asked Fon, trying to maintain a calm voice.

"The girl blasted through a Sky flame seal, one meant to keep Inactives from awakening...except from the damage done to her soul it's clear hers _were_ active when it was placed. It's so bad it's a miracle she didn't go straight into Discord from it... hell, I'm shocked her Sky flames are still _intact_ , since she's clearly been drawing from the other six!"

Fon's eyes went red with fury.

"What."

"Her flames are highly damaged, and it's clear that her original pathways were either destroyed from the effort of blasting through the seal or were more or less closed off because they lost the energy needed to keep them open. The amount of trauma it would have caused would be immense and I can't even imagine the sort of therapy needed to fix this."

"If her soul is that badly off, then how is she alive, much less functional?" demanded Haku.

"Somehow she was able to create false pathways with her Mist flame, before _inverting_ her original flame type to some sort of ice I've never encountered before. The Rain kept them stable while the Cloud kept propogating what she had access to, though it was never full stable. The Sun kept it all from imploding while the Lightning hardened the pathways against attacks from the seal. Like I said, I'm amazed she still _has_ Sky flames, much less avoided going into Discord when the seal was forcibly removed," said Shamal grimly. "Though I'll be damned if I can figure out what the Storm did, unless it was attacking the seal every time it tried to close in."

Fon blinked.

"So basically her original flame pathways were ruined by the seal, so the other six worked together in harmony to create new ones. About how old would you say the damage is?"

"At _least_ ten years old."

Fon nodded to himself.

"That might explain how she survived then. Children are well known to be the adaptable sort, especially after major trauma. If she was cut off from her flames early enough and managed to survive with her sanity intact, then it's only natural her body would adapt to find a way to keep her alive...it also explains why she's so clumsy, if the seal kept trying to forcibly push them back," said Fon. "Though that is no excuse to torture a baby Sky like this. When I find the idiot responsible they're going to _wish_ the Vindice got their hands on them."

"Yeah, whoever did this used the _worst_ seal possible to pull it off," said Shamal grimacing.

Nozomi was confused, so Fon clarified it for her in a way that she and Haku could clearly understand.

"To put it in simpler terms, your coils were atrophied because some idiot sealed them almost immediately after you awakened your fire. They also used the wrong sort of seal, causing damage because your coils found a way to adapt by using the other 'types' and it kept trying to force them back to sleep. Because of that, when you managed to break the seal your body had to readjust to no longer having that oppressive force on your soul, which would look a lot like you had blown your chakra coils to a shinobi."

Now Haku looked beyond pissed and more than happy to murder whoever hurt Nozomi. Her master had suffered for _years_ because of that seal and it was a miracle she was even alive!

"Now because your original coils were ruined by the seal, your chakra had to recreate new pathways...which means you would have been _very_ young indeed if they are this developed when that seal was applied," said Fon soothingly...even if he wanted nothing more than to rage.

Young Elements, particularly Skies, should be _cherished_ and trained. Not put under borderline torture.

Nozomi frowned.

"What is it, little lady?" asked Shamal.

"It's just... I remember how things were before everything went really cold and I was known as Dame-Nozomi. That man came to the house with an older man that I had to call grandpa. I remember climbing a tree to get a ball and falling down, only for the two men to argue about something. I was _really_ sleepy though, so I didn't hear much. But I _do_ remember waking up and feeling like I would never be warm again, and that my brain felt like it was trying to go through cold syrup. I was extra clumsy too and it took me a month or two before I stopped tripping all the time over nothing."

The two men latched on to this news.

"How old were you when this happened?" asked Shamal intently.

"About five, I think? It's really hard to remember, and I only remember it because I can count the number of times that man bothered to come home and how long he stayed," said Nozomi with a grimace. "I haven't seen him in close to six years now, after he told Mama he was 'off to become a star', and none of the contact information he gave out actually worked."

"Who is that man?" asked Haku.

"Mama's husband. I know I'm supposed to call him Papa, but he never acted like one. As far as I'm concerned he's just some deadbeat jerk that pays Mama monthly alimony and child support and never bothered to get a divorce or separation," said Nozomi with open scorn. "If he really is dead you won't find me bothering to cry at the funeral."

"What is his name?" asked Fon.

"Iemitsu Sawada," said Nozomi, unaware of the implications that name would bring.

Shamal choked when he heard _that_.

Fon looked like he had a migraine.

On the plus side, he finally had a solid explanation for why the hell the Vindice never came down like the wrath of the kami to scare the girls into joining the underworld...Nozomi was already part of a famiglia!

"I need a drink," said Shamal after a moment.

"Share or else," said Fon grumpily.

* * *

If Fon and Shamal were furious about the seal and the damage done to Nozomi growing up, it was _nothing_ compared to the sheer fury Gaara and the others had about the news.

It was so bad in fact that they managed to get another 'exploratory' mission to Namimori for a show of solidarity.

That wasn't to say they weren't bringing anything back... Temari ahd brought several old taijutsu scrolls no one used any more and Fon had agreed to share a few he knew that the shinobi could use in order to bolster their own forces with something new. Including a rather obscure art called "Gyoza Kempo", which Fon assured the girls was an actual style.

It was still rather amusing to see their incredulous looks to see what a simple gyoza bun filled with extra garlic could do in the hands of a master.

It said a lot about a shinobi's mentality that the trio took _one_ look at Fon and treated him much like they would a jounin, rather than the toddler he appeared.

"So just to be clear, Gaara used to go on rampages every time he went to sleep because the demon inside him would be given free reign... and then Nozomi came to visit and suddenly the demon started behaving almost docile?" said Fon slowly.

Of course Nozomi's flames would react differently, having to adapt in order to keep from being destroyed entirely. Add into the fact her mother had _moved_ from the Elemental Nations, rather than descended from someone there meant that Nozomi was predisposed towards jutsu.

Which meant her flames latched onto the spiritual aspect of chakra, even if she never learned how to use it properly herself. Once you added in the effects Sky flames had on the others, never mind the amount of power at Nozomi's disposal... and you had someone capable of affecting the bijuu, which he had always been told were pure chakra constructs. With limited to no defense against Sky flames, which had no real _visible_ effects, it didn't surprise him in the least that Shukaku fell prey to Sky attraction.

And that was before one got into the fact that Gaara had Sky flames as well, or something scarily similar enough that he fell into resonance with Nozomi's own.

All in all, it seemed a series of very strange coincidences and pure luck allowed Nozomi to last this long.

Though it still took Fon two full months before he cottoned on to the fact that Nozomi's flames were reaching out with his own. It wasn't malicious, more along the lines of the fact she still had little to no actual control over them, even with their success in converting the shinobi's hand-signs to create 'short cuts' since Nozomi was predisposed towards them anyway.

Mostly out of boredom and not really expecting anything to happen, Fon mentally poked back with his Storm...only to go ramrod straight in absolute shock as he felt his flames slip in easily into Nozomi's Sky.

He knew she was strong, to be able to tame even a _bijuu_ when she was sealed, but he never anticipated this.

He wasn't the only one shocked... the second it happened Nozomi jolted awake in confusion from where she had been napping on her desk. She ignored the teacher and looked around baffled as to what just happened.

It wasn't until she got home that she got an answer, and immediately Fon took her to see Shamal.

The Mist looked at Fon with a confused expression on his face.

"There's definitely a full Guardian bond between you two. What the hell happened?"

"I've been feeling her Sky drifting near my Storm flames and I simply poked at it. Next thing I know my flames slid into place with her Sky," said Fon.

Shamal examined Nozomi, before looking at Fon.

"Well whatever you did it's caused her flames to stabilize, just a little. A small chunk of the damage seems to have healed over..."

Fon's eyes went wide.

"You don't think..."

"Maybe if she's able to find the missing elements that she _should_ have collected years ago some of the damage could be fixed. At the very least it would keep her from falling into Discord, though if whoever put that seal on her tries to reapply it..."

Fon looked particularly murderous at the thought. If Iemitsu thought Fon was going to allow him to put that wretched thing on his daughter, he had no issue with straight out murdering the idiot.

Considering how quickly he had developed protective instincts towards Nozomi that had nothing to do with the Guardian bond, he was already making plans to potentially convince some of the other loose Elements around to see if they could help fix the damage.

Nozomi had already taken to Skull rather well, and if not for the fact that she was showing signs of developing a 'secondary' Guardian bond with Haku and a 'primary' with Takeshi, he never would have considered it.

Even _Luce_ had been barely able to hold them together before the curse, having already found her true Guardians...and she couldn't hold them at all after it because of the broken trust.

To be fair, Fon was rapidly becoming the _only_ father-figure Nozomi HAD in her life. Even Haku had Zabuza, who was ironically STILL a better father-figure than Iemitsu was turning out to be.

(Though Fon wouldn't mention the fact he now had to put up with being cuddled repeatedly by the girls. He was a guy, and therefor not likely to complain when cute girls wanted to hug him. At least they let him preserve his dignity and treated him like a short adult instead of the toddler he appeared.)


	8. Chapter 8

Fon was taking a few moments out of his day...to quietly laugh his ass off for what he had deviously pulled on his new Sky and his grandson.

Kyouya and Nozomi were sparring on the roof, when on a fit of mischief he managed to trip Kyouya.

And as if heaven itself wanted to mess with his grandson, Kyouya landed right. On. Nozomi.

Hearing the girl squeak when Kyouya inadvertently took her first kiss made the entire effort worth it. Especially since he got to quietly cackle at the confused look on Kyouya's face and the monumental blush on hers. He was well aware she had a crush on him...which he fully supported.

He was so shipping those two...they would make an adorable couple.

Fon could only grin when, less than a week later, he caught Nozomi sneaking onto the roof where Kyouya was to treat him like an oversized panther of sorts. It took his grandson a moment to register who it was, before rolling over and continuing with one of his many cat naps. He had no idea Fon recorded Nozomi threading her hands through his hair with Sky flames, or the fact Kyouya actually started to purr from the treatment.

Nozomi was endlessly fascinated whenever she had Fon in her lap and he did much the same thing, generally acting like a contented cat when he napped against her.

At the very least it was a good step towards his private ship of Nozomi/Kyouya!

Now why did he keep thinking of the numbers 18 and 27 whenever he was secretly rooting for it to happen? Very strange.

* * *

Nozomi had to stare when she realized Hinata was in her house.

"What happened?" she asked.

"One of the Elders who wanted to use me against my father found the diary I had hidden and realized I liked Naruto. The second he brought it out and I didn't deny it, they tried to put the same seal that is on the branch family on me... Officially I'm your bodyguard slash 'special contact' for any Konoha shinobi that want to come to the Outside via Japan for supplies and basic information to blend in."

"And unofficially?" asked Fon, frowning.

"I'm in Exile until things change in the clan or until they need all available shinobi to deal with a threat against the village or just to fill the numbers up after a massive attack. Since Japan is so close to Suna and it takes less than a week to get back, the council agreed to the idea because it keeps me out of the way and they don't have to deal with the internal politics of the Hyuuga for a while," said Hinata sadly.

Nozomi looked thoughtful.

"You specialize in taijutsu and healing, right? I remember you telling me that you weren't allowed to learn anything but the general stuff because the clan wouldn't allow it."

Hinata nodded.

Nozomi grinned.

"Welcome to the family Hinata. If anyone asks you're an exchange student. Besides, this means Haku has someone to commiserate with when it comes to iryonin training," said Nozomi.

"And it means I-Pin has a new big sister," said Fon pleased. "But first I want to see exactly what sort of hand to hand you know."

Hinata looked at him curiously...but quickly put him on the same level as Gai-sensei after Fon put her through the ringer. He was not very pleased with the Jyuuken.

"This is entirely too inflexible for your body type, and I'm astounded your training masters didn't pick up on that fact sooner. You are more like water or wind, flexible and graceful...able to bend without breaking. This is more for the earth...solid and strong, able to endure," he said with a sniff. "Fortunately you seem to have the same flexibility as Nozomi, so I can train you both at once. And Haku can get you up to speed when it comes to medical jutsu. It's ridiculous to limit yourself while you're in exile and if they try to reclaim you then at least you'll have a few tricks up your sleeve."

"Thank you, Fon-sensei."

"Don't thank me yet. We still have to get you up to what _I_ consider acceptable standards for martial arts. Nozomi barely ranks above apprentice level and Haku is firmly in the early journeyman."

Then again Haku had more combat experience so it made sense. Nozomi was pleased when Hibari took _one_ look at Hinata and put her in the same class as Nozomi.

Nozomi was just happy to have someone she could relate to and actually share things with in class. Even if everyone thought Hinata was blind at first because of her eyes...she quickly disabused them of the notion when she was able to read the blackboard just fine.

 _In the training ground..._

"I said bend, not bow Hinata-san. Very good, that is much better," said Fon pleased. "You suit juijitsu far more than the Jyuuken you were using before. In fact I might even get you started on weapons training soon."

"Really?" said Hinata surprised. She was still in shock how quickly she had improved under Fon's training...then again she wasn't limiting herself to her clan style anymore so that was likely why.

"Nozomi has no ability for anything but the staff, smaller tessen, and the crossbow. You however have much better hand-eye coordination and your throwing skills are adequate enough that I have a much bigger range for you to try out," said Fon.

They had tried to get Nozomi to learn a few weapons, but she hated hurting others and she could never get a proper knack for learning them. And she didn't have very good hand-eye coordination when it came to thrown weapons.

She was 'acceptable' when it came to shooting things, however Fon was leery of having a gun in the house with I-Pin around. So he had settled on the next best thing which was a crossbow. Nozomi simply didn't have the arm strength to use a regular bow and arrow.

She was decent enough when it came to staff training, mostly because Fon had noticed she went into a meditative state if the exercises were kept to a strict set. And the tessen she learned from Temari, even if it was delegated to a short range defense.

Nozomi only truly shined when it came to pure martial arts.

Haku on the other hand favored the senbon and the chakrams. Outside of supplying her with the needles and getting her used to the weight and how to catch the blades, Fon had left her to her own training. She spent most of her time learning from Shamal when it came to being a doctor.

Fon decided not to alert the Mist that he had quietly harmonized with Nozomi by this point. His chi certainly felt more at ease now than it had when he first arrived.

Though he had noticed Hinata's limited flames, which were tied up to her chakra, were quickly starting to fall under Nozomi's Sky. Soon any allegiance she had with her village would be overtaken by harmonization... even if it was a secondary bond like Haku's.

It made him wonder if Nozomi was capable of handling Reborn... before he swiftly curtailed that idea. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was share his Sky with that chaotic pain in the ass. He didn't care if he was being possessive about it either!

* * *

Fon was out of sight almost dancing when he saw Kyouya pounce on Nozomi. It had taken a few months of careful nudging, but his bratty grandson was finally showing interest in a girl!

At the very least when he felt Kyouya's Cloud slip into her Sky, he felt the entire thing was worth it. Even if they didn't pair up as a couple he had some security knowing that his grandson was safe from being manipulated by the Triads or the mafia.

Nozomi accepted him as he was, a fierce protector with a violent streak, and didn't try to restrict him outside of a few reasonable requests.

It was almost a pity the yearly Arcobaleno summit was in a few days. He wanted to observe the two a bit more.

With a sigh, Fon started packing for it. The others would undoubtedly try to find him if he missed it and the last thing he needed was the Vongola alerted to the fact that Nozomi had been officially _removed_ from their list of heirs by their own stupidity.

He had submitted the documents to the Vindice, and they had agreed with his assessment that Nozomi was no longer considered a Vongola when she had to blast through a seal that nearly killed her. A seal that had been _placed_ when she was at the bottom of the list of heirs.

If they were so secure with the number of Skies in their family to put something like that on a child who was being raised in a civilian setting, then clearly they were giving her permission to strike out on her own to form her own group.

He already had an idea of what their primary source of income would be too. They would use Nozomi's close connections to the shinobi to outsource missions to Suna and their allies, in exchange for a cut of the profits. It was a win-win for Suna, who had been losing money thanks to their Daimyo and it meant the shinobi nations wouldn't be reliant on their lords anymore if they had enough of their infighting.

Now he just had to fill up Nozomi's Sky with strong Guardians so they could start a legitimate group...and come up with a name of course.

When Fon got there, an idea occurred to him watching Colonello once again try and fail to woo Lal.

Nozomi's aim was adequate and she mostly needed to work on her stamina...never mind her hand-eye coordination. There was also the fact that the Triads were starting to make subtle inquiries as to why he had been off the radar for so long. They had mostly backed off on I-Pin because he had 'proved' that she had been hired out as a bodyguard to someone who could afford his rates.

Which was why Fon waited for the meeting to meet a lull point before he approached the bored Rain.

"Colonello, how would you like some students all too happy to 'play' in your obstacle courses, as well as a potential Sun capable of using your personal technique?" asked Fon with a smile.

From what he had seen of Ryohei Sasegawa, there was a high chance he would flourish under Colonello's teaching. The poor Sun had no proper outlet, and had taken to fighting in the underground rings to get rid of his excess energy and fighting spirit.

"I'm listening," said Colonello. Seeing the look Fon gave him, he sighed. "I'm bored and I could use a break from Mafia Land. Having students you recommend might get me out of the rut I'm in."

"Well I have three girls who could only benefit from your military style training, and a fourth that hasn't been 'tapped' so to speak despite being Active. The fourth is the one I suspect would take to your Maximum Cannon...he has the body type for it and he's mostly been spinning his wheels in the underground rings."

"Really? What sort of fighter is he?" asked Colonello, showing real interest now.

"A boxer. He's more or less topped out when it comes to the local fighters, outside my grandson who finds him too annoying to deal with. I'm sure his sister and parents would be thrilled if he found a better outlet than just fighting, and being in the military is at least respectable enough that he could potentially thrive once he's out of school," said Fon.

Colonello rubbed his chin...this sounded potentially interesting.

"And the girls?"

"Two are training to become doctors, or at least medics. However both are already combat trained and mostly need someone to keep an eye on them. The third however needs stamina training and someone to help her improve her ability to aim. Due to where they live, I've been able to get her used to using a crossbow."

"Not a real gun?" asked Colonello surprised.

"I-Pin is living with them, and as responsible as she is I don't feel happy about her living in a house with a gun who's owner doesn't have the best aim. Especially when the girl in question is far better suited to hand to hand."

"Ah, got ya," said Colonello in understanding. Giving the girl a crossbow lessened the risk of accidents considerably, especially if she was only learning how to shoot. While I-Pin might avoid them, there was always a risk of the gun misfiring since modern ones left the bullets loaded in them. Crossbows generally tended to jam up if you left them loaded like that for too long, which meant that most of the time they wouldn't have anything to seriously injure or kill small children in them.

"Any objections to me giving them sniper training?" asked Colonello with open interest.

"By all means. The girl I mentioned doesn't have the arm strength to shoot a normal bow, but she might be able to carry around a small sniper rifle since most of that involves learning trajectory and finding proper placement for the gun," said Fon.

Seeing he had Colonello's full interest now, Fon went in for the kill.

"There is one small issue you should be aware of about the girl."

"What?"

"She's _technically_ an unaffiliated Sky. While she does have a Rain guardian she's already proven capable of handling one of us."

Colonello looked at him sharply, before eying up Fon for a moment.

"She's your Sky, isn't she?"

"And I would like to keep her existence quiet, which is why I asked you instead of Lal. Never mind that exposing her to your crush would involve bringing her to the attention of someone I am more inclined to brutally murder outright than negotiate with at the moment."

Colonello stared at him, before Fon handed over a copy of Nozomi's medical records.

He briefly skimmed it before his eyes went hard.

"Is this for real?"

"You know Reborn's friend Shamal? He confirmed the diagnosis himself."

"How is this girl even alive?"

"To put it simply she was very, very young when it was applied and her pathways had already learned to reroute and create new ones when she broke through it on her own. Her original ones are almost completely ruined thanks to that man's stunt, and odds are none of the people in the house would object to you using _him_ as target practice if he decides to show up unannounced. Also because of the timing and the seal that was used, the Vindice have ruled she could legally remove herself from their influence and start a new group or join up with another and there would be nothing they could do about it."

Colonello had to think of this for a moment. This was serious shit after all.

He looked at Lal, who mostly ignored him and then at the file. He had meet Iemitsu a few times and hadn't come out of it very impressed. Far from it in fact, the man was an asshole and he pissed Lal off daily with his stupid antics.

To find out he had done something like this to his own kid, and the lengths she had to go in order to remove it...he could see why Fon had at least warned him.

Then he thought of what was waiting for him back on Mafia Land and decided.

"You know what, I'm in. At least this won't leave me bored to tears," he said finally.

Fon subtly relaxed. That was one hurdle over with.

"One other thing...if the others ask why you went there tell them I called in a favor since I wanted you to take plenty of pictures of my grandson courting his possible girlfriend because the Triads called me back for a bit," said Fon.

"Girlfriend?"

Fon smirked, and for a moment Colonello saw Reborn in him. It was very unnerving.

"Nozomi has a crush on Kyouya, and I recently managed to nudge them in the right direction for them to hopefully date. That way if anyone in the Triads ask I can honestly claim I was insuring the continuation of my bloodline via my grandson and a suitable female," he replied slyly.

Colonello snorted at that.

(On an unrelated note he did _not_ yelp when Nozomi took one look at him and scooped him up in a cuddle when he first arrived...it took him five minutes before she let him go, and he refused to admit he was blushing from the treatment.)


	9. Chapter 9

Colonello had to admit, he was having fun for the first time in years. The girls were all like little ducklings...and yes, he did call them that after the first week... during training. Not only that, but they treated him with more respect than most did when they saw his tiny form.

Ryohei was like a hidden goldmine when it came to his training...the boy positively thrived under Colonello's strict regimen and he only needed a brief bit of training to figure out how to use his Maximum Cannon. The real issue was getting the idiot to stop and let his muscles rest, but once he did...damn, the boy was a powerhouse!

Hinata and Haku, he didn't mess with most of the time because they kept to the training regimen Fon left behind and their lessons with Shamal.

It was Nozomi he spent the bulk of his time with, when he wasn't giving Ryohei personal instruction.

The girl only needed a little encouragement to flourish. While she was a decent shot with her crossbow (and he fully agreed it was safer to give her that rather than a real gun when he saw how she handled it... the fact it made her look like a mini Daniela Vongola was perfect coincidence) she was a natural sharpshooter when it came to sniping.

As Fon had warned him, Nozomi simply didn't have the mentality to use a hand gun, let alone the arm strength just yet to handle the recoil. She could barely keep up with the small shotgun he had brought with him.

However once she settled into her spot with a sniper's rifle and went into her meditative state, she was very good at hitting targets from far away. It was almost cathartic for her, and if he didn't know for a fact she hated violence he would almost worry for the students at her school, considering her past history of bullying.

It took him far too long to realize he had slowly harmonized with Nozomi. In fact she was the one to figure it out first, and he only cottoned on when she hugged him close and told him "welcome home".

It was nice. Like a hot bath after a hard battle, where you could simply drop your weapons and just _relax_ knowing you were welcomes and home.

There was only _one_ thing keeping him from seeing if Nozomi could handle Lal as well, and that was Iemitsu.

He could fully understand now why Fon wanted to keep that braying jackass far, far from sweet little Nozomi. He didn't deserve a girl like her.

* * *

 _Later that summer..._

"So where are we going, kora?" asked Colonello from Nozomi's shoulder.

"Sunagakure. Gaara-nii said he had a surprise for me when I got there, and I need to pick up the scrolls Tsunade sent for Haku and Hinata anyway."

"Where's Sunagakure?"

"The Elemental Nations. It's the one closest to Japan and it's where Mama came from. She wasn't happy when Fon told her that I had a kekkei genkai and Iemitsu put a seal on it that nearly killed me rather than train it properly," said Nozomi, as if that explained everything.

Nana was from Suna, and she was from a shinobi family. The idea of _sealing_ a kekkei genkai that wasn't immediately dangerous and just needed training was abhorrent to her. Learning Iemitsu had done so and that her daughter had nearly died _removing_ that seal had made her furious. If it wasn't for the fact the idiot would figure out that Nana knew what he had done, or that something had changed, Nana wouldn't have hesitated to divorce the bastard.

As it was, the second he did find out or he tried to use _her_ daughter for _his_ benefit she was going to slap the papers on him so fast it would make his head spin.

It was only the fact she had no idea where to deliver the papers that kept her from making it all legal. She didn't need his consent considering he had left her alone for years at a time and put her daughter's health and well being at risk with his actions. The fact Fon could easily provide proof the man was cheating on her had only made it easier.

Colonello looked confused.

"So why aren't Hinata and Haku coming then?"

"Because Hinata is unofficially on exile and acting as my 'contact' with her village for certain items and supplies which Fon helped her to get, and Haku is staying here to make sure her family doesn't try anything to get her back. Besides, someone has to keep up I-Pin's training while Fon is absent and Kyouya simply isn't suited for it," said Nozomi. The light pause before she said his name was all the indication that she liked him as more than a friend.

Colonello grinned at that. It was adorable watching the little bunny courting the big bad wolf. Fortunately Kyouya had ignored him as a 'sniping carnivore' outside to tell Colonello to keep all practice outside the city limits. He didn't really tolerate guns of any sort around, and he barely accepted Nozomi's crossbow.

Kyouya was slowly edging towards Nozomi as a potentially worthy girlfriend. He was already quietly drifting on the outskirts of her Sky as a Cloud. Being able to move freely while having someone like Nozomi bandage him up without a word of complaint was something all Clouds dreamed of.

"So what's a kekkei genkai?"

"It means bloodline limit. Basically a gift that follows a certain bloodline," said Haku. "For example..."

Haku created a mirror of pure ice.

"This is Hyoton, or Ice Release. It is a special trait that is passed down mostly through my bloodline and it is likely it will pass down to any children I have. It allows me to create ice out of almost nothing, though it's easier around cold weather and water."

"Byakugan!"

Colonello twitched at the way Hinata's eyes bulged out a bit, with the viens showing. That was really creepy.

"Hinata's gift is called a doujutsu, which is primarily an occular bloodline limit. Her particular one is called Byakugan and allows her to see the chakra networks or in your case the pressure points on the human body. It also allows her to see the world with something akin to X-Ray vision within a certain distance," said Haku.

"Unfortunately her clan is full of snobs who think it's perfectly acceptable to practice limited inbreeding and even brand over half their number with a seal that will torture or even kill them outright," said Nozomi. "It's why Hinata is on unofficial exile... they didn't like the fact she has a crush on the village pariah or that she actually has a heart despite being the heirress. As long as she's here on an official assignment they can't legally remove her status as heirress...however it means she can't go back unless certain factors are removed."

Colonello was silent. It was clear that the subject hurt Hinata, that she was banned from going home because of a bunch of idiots.

"Will they care that you're bringing Ryohei and Takeshi with you?"

"I'm pretty much a celebrity in Suna, because I was able to calm Gaara down to the point he doesn't go on massacres anymore. That and I was able to get Shukaku to quit killing everyone in sight so long as they got him very, very drunk instead," said Nozomi with a shrug. Seeing the look he was giving her, she winced. "It's easier to see than explain."

"What about sniping?"

"Let me put it this way...did Haku or Hinata make a big deal about your combat training or hold back from the lethal attacks you taught them?"

"Surprisingly no," said Colonello.

"There's your answer."

Which really wasn't an answer at all, and it was clear she had been taking lessons from Fon about being cryptic as hell.

What surprised them all was the fact Kyouya was going with them. He said nothing, but took up roost near the crow's nest without a word.

Nozomi blushed a bit, but kept quiet. Fon had told her that Guardians tended to be a bit...clingy...during the first few months. The fact he was leaving his territory was Kyouya's way of being 'clingy' without actually having to interact with the lot of them unless he had to.

Besides, he wanted to have some fun being up psuedo-carnivores rather than dealing with the lot of 'pretend carnivores' that made up Namimori. He was bored!

Colonello noticed the ease Nozomi had on the ship and how much happier she was leaving Namimori. Then again there was a lot of bad blood between her and the people who lived there.

It was a relatively boring ride, though he had to raise an eyebrow at the way Nozomi seemed to positively perk up the second she saw the shoreline.

Near the docks was a teen roughly the same age as Kyouya or Ryohei with a shock of red hair and _was that a gourd on his back_?

Closer inspection revealed jade green eyes with almost panda-like or possibly raccoon markings around his eyes. From what Colonello could tell the kid had been sleep deprived often enough to make the markings pretty much permanent. He wore desert-appropriate clothing, with predominantly reddish-brown coloring and he had a familiar headband around the sash of his gourd, except with an hourglass shape as opposed to the odd stylised leaf Hinata had, or the squiggles that Haku had.

However the thing that struck most about "Gaara" was the sense of 'bloodlust' that he had only ever felt around Viper... or Mammon as they insisted they call them... partner Belphegor.

Unlike the Varia's bloody Storm officer, Gaara's bloodlust seemed to have been tempered. That and he didn't 'feel' like a Storm to Colonello's senses. It was closer to what Nozomi's flames felt like, but not quite.

From what limited information Nozomi had shared and the way the people reacted to her presence, he suspected that she had managed to resonate with Gaara's flames to the point that whatever it was that made him go psycho and kill indiscriminately calmed down. Not to the point he was harmless...the boy had spilt too much blood too freely for that, but enough that he wasn't at risk of going into complete Discord and causing untold amounts of death and destruction anymore.

It was likely these people didn't have a clue what had been going on with the kid, if they failed to recognize the signs. Though it did make him wonder why the kid looked like he was sleep deprived regularly for his eyes to have permanent bags under them.

Colonello recognized the protective glint in Gaara's eyes though. He had found a reason to live and would happily slaughter anyone that harmed his 'little sister'.

If that boy wasn't a Guardian, he came pretty damn close to it that it made no difference in the long run.

Colonello found the entire village odd...at least until he realized it was filled with almost _militaristic_ fighters. Fighters more like Fon than people like Lal or Colonello himself, but a decidedly military mindset regardless.

Oddly he felt himself relaxing. It was easy to get along with these...shinobi, considering he was a former military man himself.

He found himself grinning when he saw the obstacle courses they had their _children_ go through while training. It was something well above any civilian playground, but it was perfectly on par with something he would use himself!

The shinobi apparently respected him quite a bit when he asked to go through it at least once and had a grand old time with it.

At the very least they seemed to treat him like a 'jounin' after that.

* * *

 _With Nozomi_

"So they made you Jounin?" asked Nozomi.

"I found out I'm in the lead as the next Kazekage. Which means I need to have a certain number of high ranked missions to be taken seriously as a leader. Hence why they made me jounin... it's easier to get the harder missions with a higher rank," said Gaara. His expression turned mischievous. "And that's before you get into the fact Temari has a secret boyfriend from Konoha."

"Do tell!" said Nozomi with great glee. It was about time she had ammo on her big sister.

Gaara smirked.

"I have it on good authority she's been hanging around the Nara heir regularly while on diplomatic missions to Konoha. Kankuro on the other hand doesn't really interact with anyone because he's always in his workshop."

"Makes me wonder what sort of fun he'll have with Colonello's expertise when it comes to long range attacks and explosives," said Nozomi grinning.

They met up with Colonello and the others over dinner...and Nozomi had to hold back her amusement when she found out what a busy boy Hibari had been.

The shinobi had humored him for 'sparring matches' and it didn't take long for them to realize he was high chunin to low jounin in skill level when it came to fighting. More than a few of the bored ninja actually offered to 'play' with him to see where their skill level stood up to him.

Kyouya was a very happy Cloud, because he had a lot of skilled opponents who were closer to carnivores than the herbivores he was forced to deal with on a daily basis. Takeshi on the other hand found himself having to improve rapidly when he challenged a few of the shinobi who used swords.

Sure, they didn't use any particular style, but they still forced him to improve and think on his feet when he sparred with them.


End file.
